Measles outbreak in Rockland County: Judge lifts ban on unvaccinated children today

A judge from upstate New York raised Friday prohibition of unvaccinated children in public places, despite 166 confirmed cases of measles, most of them in the local ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. According to the judge, the number of measles cases in the county did not meet the legal requirements for an emergency order, reports CBS New York.

Officials in Rockland County, New York issued an emergency order March 26, prohibiting unvaccinated children under the age of 18 from going out into public spaces for 30 days. Public places covered by the order include shopping centers, businesses, restaurants, schools and places of worship.

Lawyer Michael Sussman represents a dozen families associated with the Green Meadow Waldorf private school, where many parents have refused to vaccinate their children for religious reasons. He argued in court that the order "prevented people under the age of 18 in perfect health from going to church, going to school, to go shopping ".

In the absence of measles cases in school, he described the emergency order restrictions as "perversion". "These religious exemptions are sacrosanct in New York," he said Thursday.

But state Sen. Brad Hoylman was not in agreement. "Your right to express your sincere belief or religious belief does not extend to the right to endanger measles for our children and our community," he said.

Rockland County executive Ed Day has called the judge's decision "very perverse," reports CBS New York. Day said he fears for the well-being of pregnant women and children, who may be suffering life-threatening complications from the highly contagious disease.

In New York, families can claim a religious exemption from the immunization requirement. CBS New York has announced that a Rockland County Senator is currently sponsoring a bill to remove this exemption, as California had done in 2015.

"It's very simple: remove all non-medical exemptions, make things clear and simple to school administrators, and parents." I said. "Otherwise, we will have a real and real problem, and it will not only be isolated from Rockland County or Brooklyn – everyone will have to face that."