US county bans all unvaccinated children

A NEW YORK county has banned all unvaccinated children from public places in the most draconian move yet to combat the United States’ increasing outbreaks of measles.

Measles was effectively eradicated in the US by 2000, but six outbreaks – defined as three or more cases – in five US states have been confirmed this year, believed to be owing to travellers returning from countries where large outbreaks are occurring. Rockland County, 30 miles northwest of New York City, has become the first district in the US to demand that unvaccinated children be kept at home.

“Our goal is not to prosecute anyone,” said John Lyon, spokesman for the county executive. “What we want is that people get their children vaccinated and the outbreak ends.”

He told The Telegraph that his county, home to 329,000 people, had registered 155 cases since the outbreak began in October. The outbreak is concentrated in Orthodox Jewish areas, where residents are thought to be more suscepti- ble to “anti-vax” doctrine because they live outside of mainstream society.

Since December, children living in areas with less than 95 per cent vaccination rates had to prove that they had been vaccinated, or else be suspended from school.

On Tuesday, Ed Day, the county executive, announced the 30-day ban on all unvaccinated children from public spaces, or risk a $500 (£378) fine. Yesterday a free vaccination clinic was held in the town of Pomona.