MEASLES OUTBREAK SPREADS FROM ISRAEL
LOW IMMUNISATION rates in the Charedi community due, in part, to a “mistrust of secular authorities” are behind a current measles outbreak among Strictly Orthodox children, a Stamford Hill doctor has said.
The spread of measles — believed to have come from Israel — in London’s Strictly Orthodox community has led to more than 500 children receiving emergency vaccinations.
More than 60 cases have been reported since the beginning of October, affecting a number of children who have never been immunised, the Times reports.
The vast majority of patients live in North London’s Charedi community, in the boroughs of Hackney and Haringey — the largest such community in Europe. The outbreak, feared to be the most serious in decades, is believed to have been brought to the UK by Charedim returning from Israel after the chagim in September.
Joseph Spitzer, a GP at Stamford Hill’s Cranwich Road Surgery, attributed the outbreak to low immunisation rates in the Strictly Orthodox community, “definitely lower,” he said, than in the general population.
Dr Spitzer told the JC: “Over the last four to six weeks we’ve known there was a measles outbreak among the Charedi community in Israel. It has now reached our shores.
“Some people will say it is due to the fact that they have large families and therefore they cannot keep up with the immunisations.
“I would say that, with having children there are responsibilities, and one
There have been more than 60 cases since October’
of those responsibilities is to ensure that one’s children are immunised and protected against these horrible diseases. I’d go further and say that parents who don’t avail themselves of immunising their children are absolutely irresponsible.”
In Israel, more than 2,000 people have been infected since March. Gal Gadot, the Israeli actress who played Wonder Woman, and Bar Refaeli, a model, actress and TV presenter, have joined a social media campaign to boost levels of inoculation in their country.