Israel’s state-funded chief rabbis issued an order to haredim today – an order that would be almost unimaginable
anywhere else in the Western world. The chief rabbis ordered haredim to
overcome their fear of vaccines and get their children vaccinated
against polio, which appears to be making a comeback after almost being
wiped out worldwide thanks to the polio vaccine invented by Dr. Jonas
Salk in 1955.
Dr. Jonas Salk
As Polio Fears Deepen, Israel’s Chief Rabbis Are Forced To Order Reluctant Haredim To Vaccinate Their Children
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Israel’s state-funded chief rabbis issued an order to haredim today, the Jerusalem Post reported – an order that would be almost unimaginable anywhere else in the Western world. The chief rabbis ordered haredim to overcome their fear of vaccines and get their children vaccinated against polio, which appears to be making a comeback after almost being wiped out worldwide thanks to the polio vaccine invented by Dr. Jonas Salk in 1955.
Before Salk’s vaccine, thousands of children and adults died every year for polio and tens of thousands were left permanently paralyzed. (For example, I had a relative who contracted polio as a young mother. She lived for almost 30 years in an iron lung as a result.)
“I have heard reports from officials in the Ministry of Health that some people are concerned about taking the vaccination for Polio.This treatment also comes under the [religious injunction] of protecting one’s physical well-being. Bearing this in mind, it is a holy obligation and a commandment [obligatory] on every parent to vaccinate their children against the Polio disease in accordance with the precise directions of the Ministry of Health which is doing holy work. ‘He who listens to us will dwell in safety,’” Sefardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef reportedly wrote in a statement he released to media earlier today.
After that, he reportedly issued a similar joint letter with Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau which also noted that failure to vaccinate children could harm the public’s health.
The Jerusalem Post reports that the polio virus was detected in sewage treatment plants around the country in February.
Polio paralyzes and sometimes kills many of its victims.
The Post notes that the Hebrew-language haredi news website B’hadrei Haredim reported that some haredim are refusing to vaccinate their children, despite a call from the Israel’s Ministry of Health to do so. This danger to the public and to those children prompted Israel’s new chief rabbis to act.
A significant number of haredim in Israel and elsewhere refuse to vaccinate their children for fear that the vaccinations are not "natural" or that they are potentially harmful.
Because so few haredim have any significant secular education, many are unaware of modern medical science and lack the knowledge to evaluate medical claims most others immediately recognize as quackery.