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Vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella are seen in a cold room at the Rockland County Health Department in Pomona, N.Y. (Seth Wenig / AP)
Ten days after New York County banned unvaccinated children from going to public places to stem the resurgence of measles cases, a state judge suspended the injunction.
"The children are hereby allowed to return immediately to their respective schools and to meet otherwise in public places," Judge Rolf Thorsen wrote in his decision on Friday.
The controversial ban, announced by a spokesman for the Rockland County Executive, Ed Day, was aimed at countering an outbreak in Rockland County, where both confirmed cases of measles had been reported to Friday.
County officials have declared the state of emergency, as reported Lindsey Bever in the Washington Post last week, announcing that the ban would remain in effect for 30 days or until the end of the day. unvaccinated miners receive the MMR vaccine to protect them against measles, mumps and rubella. According to one official, unvaccinated minors would not be allowed in closed places such as churches, schools and shopping centers.
"We must not let this epidemic continue," Day said at a press conference. "We will not sit idly by while the children in our community are in danger."
Dorit Reiss, a professor at the University of California The Hastings College of Law in San Francisco said that a ban by decree was an unusual step, which provoked outrage from the national anti-vaccine community.
But she saw it largely as a symbolic measure.
"It was not as aggressive as it could have been," Reiss said. "They did not intend to make massive arrests."
Day said that cases in which parents and guardians violate the ban would be returned to the prosecutor's office. The offenses would be considered offenses punishable by a fine of $ 500 or a maximum sentence of six months in prison.
Thorsen ruled after parents of a Waldorf private school filed a lawsuit calling the action "arbitrary, capricious" and "an unprecedented declaration of local emergency". The parents claimed that the county had exceeded its legal authority. They stated that the declaration had prevented "children from attending crèches and schools and banned their movement and forbade them to gather and gather in public places".
Reiss stated that Thorsen's decision was based on whether the epidemic was an emergency. With an outbreak of such a highly contagious virus, she said, "There is every reason to think that it is an emergency."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, measles can cause pneumonia, brain damage, hearing loss and even death. Between 1 January and the end of March, 387 cases of measles were confirmed in 15 states of the country, California Kentucky and New Jersey – the second highest number of cases since the elimination of measles in the United States. United States in 2000.
New York State has been particularly hard hit, with 259 confirmed cases in Brooklyn and Queens since October, many in the Orthodox Jewish community. According to the State Department of Health and Mental Health, the outbreak began after an unvaccinated child contracted measles during a visit to Israel , where the disease also broke out.
The measles epidemics – and the increasingly aggressive response of public health – have also caused a surge in activity among anti-vaccine activists. Across the country and around the world, a global movement that spreads misinformation about vaccines has reduced child immunization, reducing the immunity of the community that is essential for protection against one of the most common diseases. more contagious to the world.
After the Rockland County ban, anti-vaccination activists compared public health measures to Nazi persecution of Jews, including forcing them to wear yellow stars.
Reiss suspects that it may not be useful for local officials to fight against Thorsen's decision.
"It was a short ban," she said. "It could be the end of it."
Lena Sun contributed to this report.
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