NYC mandates measles vaccines
Measles emergency declared in Brooklyn
De Blasio declares an emergency amid fears of outbreak spreading
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency Tuesday for parts of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg section following a measles outbreak affecting the Orthodox Jewish community fueled by a growing movement against vaccinations.
Unvaccinated people living in designated ZIP codes who may have been exposed to measles will be required to receive the vaccine to protect others from the outbreak, the mayor said.
Measles is highly contagious, but the vaccination is considered 97% effective, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“There’s no question that vaccines are safe, effective and life-saving,” de Blasio said. “The bottom line is to recognize that this is something that has become even more urgent.”
Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot said the outbreak was being “driven by a small group of anti-vaxxers” in the targeted neighborhoods.
“They have been spreading dangerous misinformation based on fake science,” he said.
“Herd immunity can only carry a community so far.” Ogbonnaya Omenka Assistant professor at Butler University
The outbreak began in October, but many of these new cases were confirmed in the past two months. The vast majority of cases are children under 18 – and most of these measles cases were unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated people, health officials said.
Members of the City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will check the vaccination records of people who may have been in contact with infected patients. Those who have not received the vaccine or do not have evidence of immunity may be given a violation and could be fined $1,000, the mayor said.
Barbot is concerned about measles outbreaks spreading as people travel for Passover, which begins in less than two weeks.
“We’ve seen a large increase in the number of people vaccinated in these neighborhoods, but as Passover approaches, we need to do all we can to ensure more people get the vaccine,” Barbot said. Measles was introduced into the community by someone who picked up the disease in Israel, which is dealing with its own outbreak, health officials said.
The primary symptoms from the disease include fever, runny nose, cough and a rash that can spread across the entire body. People who are immunocompromised can develop pneumonia, swelling of the brain or other serious symptoms. Measles can cause men to become sterile and pregnant women to deliver prematurely.
Ogbonnaya Omenka, an assistant professor at Butler University who has a doctorate in public health, says the New York outbreak shows that people shouldn’t believe they are safe without a vaccination because almost everyone else around them was vaccinated.
“Herd immunity can only carry a community so far,” he said.
The CDC said Monday that 465 cases have been confirmed in 19 states in 2019, the second-highest total since measles was declared eliminated in the USA almost two decades ago.