Measles Outbreak: Reaching Hasidic Moms Afraid Of Vaccines

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — In its 26th week of a measles outbreak, Rockland County is now under a State of Emergency banning all unvaccinated children from public places such as stores, restaurants, offices and recreational facilities. Efforts are starting to combat anti-vaccination sentiment in the Ultra-Orthodox community in Rockland and in New York City.

Rockland's outbreak has now reached 153 cases, and uncooperative families of measles victims are contributing to its continuation, Rockland officials said.

Anti-vaxxers are also contributing to the outbreak in New York City, which has exploded in the past month. There have been 181 cases confirmed in NYC as of March 19. That's 60 more cases since February. City health officials learned that parents and school officials had ignored rules keeping unvaccinated children home from yeshivas with low vaccination rates.

Misinformation put out by Ultra-Orthodox anti-vaxxers is part of the problem, according to an article in Gothamist.

So members of the Orthodox Jewish Nurses Association checked out the popular and official-looking PEACH manual circulating among moms in the community, the news outlet said. It purports to give information about the dangers of vaccines but is actually filled with spurious citations and easy-to-refute claims. The nurses on the OJNA's Vaccine Task Force are doing just that. They hope to publish their manual next week and distributed it widely, Gothamist reported.

Locals are also working on targeting the Rockland Hasidic community.

Putting aside their political differences, Orangetown Town Supervisor Chris Day and county Legislator Aron Wieder are working together to create a public service announcement in English and Yiddish.

"I am currently working with Legislator Aron Wieder on script, location, and other aspects of our joint outreach plan to both of our communities to encourage vaccinations, and we anticipate being able to launch it sometime late next week," Day said on Facebook.

The State of Emergency declaration came four days after Day found out he had just missed taking his new baby (too young to be vaccinated) into the Target in Spring Valley where a contagious person had been shopping.

"Our town and county will be safer with this decision and subsequent enforcement," Day said on Facebook Tuesday. "I'm also looking forward to hearing more details from the County Department of Health about the proposed specific actions associated with this declaration, how they will be enforced, and whether we can expect other specific actions under this declaration if the ones currently being proposed are not effective."

Meanwhile, county health officials are holding a free MMR vaccine clinic today, March 27, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Robert Yeager Health Center, Building A, second floor clinic area, located at 50 Sanatorium Road in Pomona, NY. The Health Department will be offering non-immune residents one dose of measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine at no cost.

SEE: Rockland Offers Measles Shot As State Of Emergency Starts: UPDATE