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U.S. NEWS Monday 17 June 2019
Summer camp is newest front in battle with measles outbreak

By MICHAEL HILL those cases have been di- county, 139 are Orthodox
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The agnosed in ultra-Orthodox Jewish camps.
battle to contain the worst Jewish neighborhoods in "We draw such a popula-
U.S. measles outbreak in 27 Brooklyn and suburban tion from New York City,
years has a new front: sum- Rockland County. where this measles out-
mer camp. The CDC recommends break was," Sullivan County
Vaccinations have been everyone over a year old spokesman Dan Hust said.
made mandatory this sum- should get the vaccine, ex- "It was considered prudent
mer for campers and staff cept for people who had and wise."
in several counties north of the disease as children. Not everyone agrees. The
New York City that annually Those who have had mea- orders from Sullivan and Or-
fill up with kids from the Or- sles are immune. ange counties were chal-
thodox Jewish communities The vaccine, which be- lenged in state courts by
that have been hit hardest came available in the parents of various religious
by measles. 1960s, is considered safe faiths. However, civil rights
Ulster County took the ex- and highly effective — attorney Michael Sussman
tra step of mandating the paving the way for measles said Friday he believes In this July 1, 2014 file photo, Orthodox Jewish girls walk to wait-
measles vaccine or proof of to be declared all but elim- those cases will have to ing buses after summer day camp in Kiryas Joel, N.Y. Kiryas Joel
is a tightly packed Hasidic enclave surrounded by suburbia in
immunity at all day camps inated in the U.S. in 2000. be withdrawn given New the Hudson Valley.
and overnight camps, be- But it has had a resurgence York's removal of religious Associated Press
coming the latest county several times, including 667 exemptions.
in the area to issue immuni- cases in 2014. Several camp administra- "We have no issue with schoolboys from New York
zation requirements. Rock- Hecht and others stressed tors interviewed by The As- that," said Yoel Landau, City attending the camp
land County announced a that vaccinations are sociated Press expressed director at Camp Rav Tov, should have already been
similar order this month, fol- widely accepted by most no objection to mandatory a camp for Hasidic boys vaccinated because of
lowing mandates from Sul- members of the Orthodox vaccinations. in Monticello. Landau said the city's order in April.q
livan and Orange counties. community, echoing rab-
"We have to make sure bis in Brooklyn and Rock-
our t's are crossed and our land County who say it is
i's are dotted in making a relatively small group of
sure all these vaccination parents influenced by anti-
records are in and have vaccination propaganda
been fine-combed through — not religious teachings
to make sure everything is — who have resisted inocu-
in compliance," said Rabbi lations.
Hanoch Hecht, of Ulster The Orthodox Union said it
County's Camp Emunah, has previously required up-
which hosts many girls from to-date vaccinations, in-
a Chabad community in cluding the MMR vaccine,
Brooklyn's Crown Heights. for its 37 summer programs.
"In the past where we ac- "Most of the leaders and
cepted religious exemp- rabbis have taken the ap-
tions for certain things," said proach that vaccination is
Hecht, who is getting his required," Hecht said.
own blood checked for im- Health officials in New York
munity, "now we cannot." City have taken a tough
The state of New York re- approach, making measles
quires summer camps to vaccinations mandatory
keep immunization records for everyone living in the
for all campers, but doesn't Brooklyn neighborhood
bar children from attend- that is the epicenter of the
ing if they haven't gotten a outbreak, fining people for
measles shot. failing to get inoculated
Children are required to and closing 12 schools for
get the measles vaccine failing to exclude staff and
to attend schools in New students who couldn't doc-
York, however, and Gov. ument immunity. The city
Andrew Cuomo signed announced the two most
legislation Thursday elimi- recent closures Thursday.
nating an exemption for Now, as schools prepare to
kids whose parents object close down for the summer,
to vaccinations on religious the fight is spreading into
grounds. the Catskills and Hudson
The Centers for Disease River Valley.
Control and Prevention re- Sullivan County is in the
ported that, as of June 1, heart of the traditional
more than 1,000 measles Borscht Belt, and the lake-
cases had been reported laden area still attracts
in the U.S. since the start thousands to its camps and
of the year, up from fewer bungalow colonies each
than 100 cases a year a summer. Of the 170 state-
decade ago. The bulk of regulated camps in the