All schoolchildren must be immunized against measles in New York, unless they have a religious or medical exemption. Vaccination compliance is generally quite high — New York City estimates that on average the immunization rate is 97 percent — but there are pockets where large proportions of parents receive exemptions. And perhaps the largest of these dangerous pockets of noncompliance is in the haredi community.
Before vaccination was available, measles killed hundreds of people every year, maimed others for life and caused birth defects and spontaneous miscarriages. The anti-vaccine movement's behavior is at risk of bringing us all back to those horrible times. And unfortunately, a large component of this dangerous movement is haredi.
All schoolchildren must be immunized against measles in New York, unless they have a religious or medical exemption. Vaccination compliance is generally quite high — New York City estimates that on average the immunization rate is 97 percent — but there are pockets where large proportions of parents receive exemptions. And perhaps the largest of these dangerous pockets of noncompliance is in the haredi community.
CUNY Sociology Professor Samuel Heilman said in the haredi world, as in other traditional religious communities, many people associate science with modern, un-godly values. "There is a skepticism about everything from global warming to vaccinating children," said Heilman, who has written several books about the ultra-Orthodox. "In many ways they see the scientific view as something that has been foisted upon them by the liberal political left."
WNYC reports:
Related Posts: