A sick situation

Symptoms of measles include fever, dry cough, inflamed eyes, sore throat and crippling political cowardice. The worst-in-a-generation outbreak of the virus continues: Nationwide, 1,022 people have now been infected, an astonishing 81% of whom are in New York State.

And even if this outbreak slows, as health officials expect it eventually will, state data show conditions are ripe for this to happen again: The number of students claiming religious exemptions from getting vaccinated is growing steadily at certain schools every year.

The good news is our state Legislature can safeguard infants, people who for medical reasons can’t get vaccinated and the public at large.

How? End the religious exemption for vaccines in New York, as California has done. In a poll released yesterday, 84% of the state’s voters told pollsters they back the idea.

So why is a bill to end the exemption stalled in the State Assembly’s 26-member Health Committee? Heavy lobbying from the vocal anti-vaccine activists, whose opposition is rooted in junk science, has apparently cowed just enough members, even as Bronx Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz tries to rally support.

Yesterday, the Daily News reached out to committee members to get some clarity on their positions.

Why are Republicans in lockstep protecting the exemption?

Can anyone convince fellow exemption protectors Democrats Tom Abinanti and Charles Barron they’re on the wrong side?

And why are Assembly Members Rodneyse Bichotte, Ron Kim and Kevin Cahill afraid to say where they stand?

Come out of hiding. Children are getting sick. Children could die.