Measles Outbreak Hits Orthodox Jews In Brooklyn
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — New York City’s Health Department is warning of an outbreak of measles in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community, and calling on parents to have their children vaccinated.
The department said Friday that there are 11 new cases of measles in the Orthodox enclave, bringing to 17 the number of children who have been recently diagnosed with measles in Williamsburg and Borough Park.
Three infections, including the initial case of measles, were acquired by children on a visit to Israel, the department said, where a large outbreak of the disease is occurring.
“There has also been transmission in schools with children who are unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated,” the department said in a release.
Health officials and community groups have reported relatively low vaccination rates in Orthodox neighborhoods. Some blame a faulty perception that fervently religious Jews are protected from infection by the relatively insulated nature of their communities, on top of rumors, unfounded according to public health officials, about dangers from vaccinations.
To counter this, the NYC Health Department enlisted community figures to encourage vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), including Rabbi David Niederman, president of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn, and Rabbi Avi Greenstein, executive director of the Boro Park Jewish Community Council.
“It says in the Torah ‘V’nishmartem Meod L’nafshoseichem,’ that a person must guard their health,” said Niederman in the release from the Health Department “It is abundantly clear on the necessity for parents to ensure that their children are vaccinated, especially from Measles.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
