Parents Bring Legal Action About Mandatory City Vaccination Against Measles



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A group of opponents of the vaccination said that city officials had exceeded their limits – and violated their religious beliefs – by imposing an emergency ordinance last week making measles immunization mandatory, according to a complaint. deposited Monday morning.

The five parents, who filed anonymously in the Brooklyn Supreme Court, filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Health and Mental Health and its commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, claiming that the police were not in danger. order went beyond the "powers of the Commissioner" and his reasons. "Are insufficient to justify these drastic emergency measures."

They say that the current outbreak of measles is not serious enough, since no deaths have been reported in this outbreak, to justify the "recklessly short period of about 48 hours" that ordered residents from Williamsburg to get vaccinated – which expired last Thursday.

The city did not disclose all the information about the current outbreak, including the number of ongoing cases and the number of cases that may have been caused by other recently vaccinated people, the source said.

People who are against injections are not only forced to be vaccinated against measles, but also against mumps and rubella, "which are useless and carry a risk of harm", and which are all contained in the MMR vaccine. , according to court documents.

And the lawsuit says that there are risks to getting the MMR vaccine, especially for children under 12 months of age and young women likely to become pregnant, which can lead to nervous system damage, brain damage and convulsions.

The emergency order says that vaccination is "safe and effective" – ​​but the plaintiffs insist that it is a "misleading statement".

The prosecution also claims that no enforcement plan has been put in place, while 500,000 people live in the area affected by the city's order.

"Rather than using the available legal mechanisms such as isolation or quarantine … the respondents imposed not only severe criminal and civil penalties for non-vaccination, but also stated that people unvaccinated "will be vaccinated against measles", thus introducing the specter of an unjustifiable forced vaccination Williamsburg and New York City, "says the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs are suing for a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction and a motion to quash the city's orders.

They say they are looking for a solution "that would likely control measles while balancing the rights to individual autonomy, informed consent and the free exercise of religion."

"The respondents' emergency orders unnecessarily override the religious practices of the applicants and their children and the legal immunization exemptions for children to go to school, which they have obtained in full compliance with public health, "according to the court.

Mayor Bill de Blasio dismissed the lawsuit against his order last week that the 212,000 people who live, work or go to school in four Williamsburg postal codes are vaccinated or face a fine of 1,000 dollars.

"We are very confident about our legal position," Blasio said at an event unrelated to Williamsburg on Monday. "When I announced it last Tuesday, I said that … it's something that the [city] The legal department is very attached to the fact that everything that has been done here fully respects our legal rights.

"And, obviously, we are at the heart of a real health challenge."

Hizzoner also made it clear that he was ready to reverse the situation to collect the fines, provided the people at risk receive the message.

"If people take notice of the warning – they get a violation but they will quickly get vaccinated … then we do not want them to pay," Blasio said. "What we are seeing now is a very small number of anti-vaxxers, which create a huge danger for other people."

Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesman for the legal department, said the city had failed in its attempts to "educate and persuade" to put an end to "an avoidable epidemic".

"We had to take this extra step to fulfill our obligation to ensure that individuals do not continue to endanger the health of others," Paolucci said, agreeing with de Blasio's to say that it was legal for Hizzoner and Barbot to give order.

He added, "The US Supreme Court upheld the right of states and localities to prescribe vaccines to stop epidemics."

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