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The United States has been struggling with a record number of measles cases since the disease was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000. In Rockland County, New York – zero point of the current focus – the health commissioner has been accusing an anti-vaccine brochure that has been circulating in the north-east for years.
Dr. Patricia Ruppert, Health Commissioner of Rockland County, where 225 cases of measles have been confirmed since October, told Dr. Jon LaPook of CBS News that she was certain the actual number was far superior.
"I think it's been a long time since we arrived," said Ruppert. "The truth is that there are a lot of unreported cases out there."
According to Ruppert, misinformation fuels the upsurge of cases, particularly within the county's Orthodox Jewish community. For at least four years, what is now known as the "PEACH pamphlet" is targeting Orthodox Jewish communities in the Northeast.
"It contains a lot of unscientific and erroneous information," said Ruppert.
The pamphlet says that vaccines are a contributing factor to autism, although the unanimous consensus of the scientific community is that vaccines do not cause autism. But Ruppert had no idea who was behind the pamphlet. So we tried to know.
The cover of the booklet states that it is "a project of parents' education and advocacy for children's health" or "PEACH". The website of this organization issued a statement that it had nothing to do with the brochure, even though it hosted a copy on its website until last month, when the brochure was published. been withdrawn. The website indicates an address in Brooklyn, but all we found is a windowless concrete building.
We found a second address in the business records of the company, but when our team knocked on the door, nobody knew anything about PEACH. The brochure also lists several hotlines to call for more information.
"Welcome to the truth about vaccines," says one of the recordings. "Vaccines have a role to play in creating a strong foundation for the immune system of these children to begin to show signs of tampering and destruction."
Protesters gather on Tuesday at the New York State Capitol to fight a bill to end religious exemptions for vaccines, which should allow lawmakers to attack their freedom of religion. But in the orthodox Jewish communities currently affected by measles outbreaks, rabbis told us that nothing in Judaism prohibits vaccines.
Dr. Aaron Glatt, an infectious disease specialist and orthodox rabbi based in Woodmere, NY, said anti-vaccine activists "are data".
"They change their reasoning as soon as it is refuted and chooses another," Glatt said.
On Sunday at his temple, Glatt gave a talk on the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and organized a test session to check the blood of people looking for evidence of immunity. He told LaPook that he had known the PEACH pamphlet for several years.
"Some of the religious information they provide is embarrassing," Glatt said.
He hopes that it will not take the death to make a difference, but he is not optimistic.
"I hope the answer to this question is" no, "but part of me says" yes. "I literally pray not to be right because there are deaths and people change their minds." said Glatt.
CBS News got anonymous SMS sent last month to orthodox Jewish fathers in Brooklyn while they were at the temple. When we called the number provided in the text, we received another misleading statement: "This vaccine will cause brain swelling, they all do it.Every vaccine causes encephalitis."
Ruppert has been fighting to fight false information about vaccines in Rockland County.
"What we have done in recent months has been to offer information in other forms: door hangers, synagogues brochures, home brochures," Ruppert said.
Amid the growing fear of the community, Ruppert is doing everything she can to control the epidemic. In a typical year, Rockland County administers approximately 1,200 measles vaccines. Since October, they have administered more than 20,000. She does not believe that public health officials and the media have sufficiently exerted pressure on the anti-vaccine movement.
"I do not think we've put the pressure we probably should have from the beginning," she said.
The PEACH organization did not talk to CBS News. On Monday, we learned that PEACH had changed its name, but continues to say that it promotes education and child safety.
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