Despite Measles Warnings, Anti-Vaccine Rally Draws Hundreds of Ultra-Orthodox Jews
 |
| Hundreds were in attendance at an anti-vaccine rally in Monsey, N.Y., in Rockland County. |
MONSEY,
N.Y. — An ultra-Orthodox rabbi falsely described the measles outbreak
among Jews as part of an elaborate plan concocted by Mayor Bill de
Blasio of New York to deflect attention from “more serious” diseases
brought by Central American migrants.
A
pediatrician questioned whether Jews were being intentionally given
“bad lots” of vaccines that ended up giving children a new strain of the
virus. And Andrew Wakefield,
the British doctor whose study linking measles vaccines with autism was
widely discredited and condemned, appeared via Skype to offer an almost
apocalyptic vision of a world in which vaccines were giving rise to
deadlier immunization-resistant diseases.
Since the measles outbreak began last fall,
the health authorities have embarked on a sweeping and exhaustive
campaign, repeatedly urging people to get vaccinated and fighting the spread of misinformation.
They have made special efforts in the ultra-Orthodox communities of
Brooklyn and Rockland County, N.Y., where the disease has been spreading
most quickly.
A
pediatrician questioned whether Jews were being intentionally given
“bad lots” of vaccines that ended up giving children a new strain of the
virus. And Andrew Wakefield,
the British doctor whose study linking measles vaccines with autism was
widely discredited and condemned, appeared via Skype to offer an almost
apocalyptic vision of a world in which vaccines were giving rise to
deadlier immunization-resistant diseases.
“We Hasidim have been chosen as the target,” said the rabbi, Hillel Handler. “The campaign against us has been successful.”
Since the measles outbreak began last fall,
the health authorities have embarked on a sweeping and exhaustive
campaign, repeatedly urging people to get vaccinated and fighting the spread of misinformation.
They have made special efforts in the ultra-Orthodox communities of
Brooklyn and Rockland County, N.Y., where the disease has been spreading
most quickly.
But
the rally on Monday in Monsey, a Rockland County town about 30 miles
northwest of New York City, vividly illustrated how the anti-vaccine
fervor is not only enduring, but may be growing: Hundreds of
ultra-Orthodox Jews packed a ballroom for a “vaccine symposium” with leaders of the anti-vaccination movement.
Organized
by a Monsey-based Jewish group, the event also showed how the movement
was gaining ground: Greg Mitchell, a Washington-based lobbyist who
represents the Church of Scientology, attended the meeting and addressed
the crowd, offering to be their “voice in the public-policy game.”
The
gathering was denounced by local elected officials, health authorities
and some ultra-Orthodox rabbis, who said the speakers were spreading
propaganda that could cause the outbreak to deepen, risking the health of countless people.
The
event was held in a large ballroom. As is customary at ultra-Orthodox
gatherings, the men were separated by an improvised wall from the women.
Speakers were introduced and applauded as if they were celebrities.
The
remarks — and the rapt audience — illustrated how the anti-vaccination
movement can exploit fear and anxiety within relatively insular
communities, especially religious ones, to undercut scientifically sound
warnings from health experts.
“They
are doubling down and increasing their messaging — capitalizing on
fear,” Dr. Jane Zucker, the assistant commissioner of immunization for
the New York City health department, said in an interview. “Parents are
afraid of who and what to believe.”
Rabbi
Handler, a 77-year-old from Brooklyn who said he was a Holocaust
survivor, set the tone for the night, claiming that Jews were being
persecuted as disease carriers and were being attacked on the street in
New York City for sneezing. (The Anti-Defamation League has strongly objected to the appropriation of Holocaust symbols by vaccine critics.)
Mr. de Blasio has issued a public health emergency for four ZIP
codes in Brooklyn where ultra-Orthodox Jews live. That decision
appeared to have earned him the ire of Rabbi Handler, who described Mr.
de Blasio as a “sneaky fellow” and a closet German — “Wilhelm, his real
name, was named after Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany.”
(In
fact, none of this is true. Mr. de Blasio was born Warren Wilhelm Jr.,
and later decided to take his mother’s last name as his own after
becoming alienated from his father.)
The
pediatrician who spoke on Monday night, Dr. Lawrence Palevsky, is
regularly cited in pamphlets circulated in New York City that urge women
not to get their children vaccinated. His views have no basis in
science, experts said.
At the rally,
he talked at length about mutating viruses and falsely claimed that
failed vaccines were producing a new strain of measles. Women scribbled
into notepads as he spoke. Others filmed his comments, sending them to
their contacts on WhatsApp. Essentially, he said, there were no studies
available to show how the vaccine affects the human body.
“Is it possible that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine that is somehow being given in this lot to communities in Williamsburg and Lakewood and Monsey,
maybe in Borough Park, is it possible that these lots are bad?” he
asked, referring to areas in New York and New Jersey with large
ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities.
“It’s fascinating because we’re told how contagious the disease is, but somehow it’s centered in the Jewish community.”
Dr. Palevsky could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Mr.
Wakefield, who was stripped of his medical license in his native
Britain some two decades ago for fraudulent claims linking vaccines to
autism, accused the health authorities and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention of misleading the public. But before doing that,
he insisted on his own innocence.
“I
wanted to reassure you that I have never been involved in scientific
fraud,” he said via Skype from a darkened room, his face appearing
eerily white as it was projected onto two large overhead screens.
“What happened to me is what happens to doctors who threatened the bottom line of the pharmaceutical companies.”
“What happened to me is what happens to doctors who threatened the bottom line of the pharmaceutical companies.”
Rockland County has the highest number of recorded cases after New York City. But there are other pockets of large outbreaks as well, and not all of them in are in religious communities.
The
C.D.C. said on Monday that the number of measles reported across the
country rose by 75 last week, bringing the total to 839 in 23 states,
the highest number of cases the United States has seen since measles was
declared eliminated in 2000.
New York City alone has seen 498 confirmed cases of the disease since September.
In the rest of New York state, there have been 274 confirmed cases,
according to official figures. About 80 percent of those cases were
located in Rockland County.
Read more about parents who choose not to vaccinate their children:
New York authorities have used a number of tactics to force people to get immunized,
including excluding unvaccinated children from going to schools with
low vaccination rates or threatening thousand-dollar fines on parents
for failing to vaccinate their children.
The strategies have been largely successful, health officials have insisted, even though there have been setbacks.
In Rockland County, for example, a state of emergency declaration
in March that banned unvaccinated children from public spaces was
challenged by parents and halted after a judge ruled that the outbreak
did not legally merit an emergency declaration.
The
county executive, Ed Day, issued a new declaration last month that
sought to prevent people who were exposed to measles from being in
public places.
Local
officials, including Mr. Day and Rabbi Chaim Schabes, expressed outrage
in a joint statement at the “outsiders” who organized Monday’s rally
and “are targeting our community.”
“Tonight’s
event and the misinformation being shared at it runs counter to every
statement from the medical experts and elected officials of our county,”
the statement read.
“This type of
propaganda endangers the health and safety of children within our
community and around the world, and must be denounced in the strongest
language possible.”
Just one of the event’s five speakers, who were introduced as
“distinguished personalities” and the “cream of humanity’s crop,” was
from the Orthodox community. Rabbi Hillel Handler, who has likened
vaccination to “child sacrifice” in the past, told the crowd that
according to “medical research,” if you catch “measles, mumps and
chickenpox, your chances of getting cancer, heart disease, and strokes
goes down 60 percent.” READ IT ALL:
http://gothamist.com/2019/05/14/anti_vaxx_symposium_orthodox.php
http://gothamist.com/2019/05/14/anti_vaxx_symposium_orthodox.php