Measles outbreaks have been reported in Williamsburg, Monsey (Rockland County), in many communities in Israel, and now – in Lakewood, NJ.
Health officials in Lakewood are warning the community about a suspected case of measles, and confirmed cases of Pertussis and Varicella.
The CHEMED Health Clinic in Lakewood tells TLS that an individual showed signs and symptoms of measles – including a large rash on his body.
The patient had just returned from a trip to Israel.
Additionally, there have been confirmed cases of Pertussis & Varicella. Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is a highly contagious respiratory disease. Pertussis is known for uncontrollable, violent coughing which often makes it hard to breathe. A highly contagious respiratory tract infection that is easily preventable by vaccine.
CHEMED released the following statement to TLS regarding the cases.
“CHEMED would like to make the community aware of a suspected case of measles in Ocean County and confirmed cases of pertussis and varicella. Symptoms of measles include fever, coughing and a rash that usually starts on the face.
“There is a very real danger for those who are not immunized, such as infants, and those who are immuno-compromised, who may come in contact with an infected person. A non-immunized pregnant women could result in exposure to the fetus.
CHEMED would like to remind everyone of the vital importance of being up to date with immunizations to protect you and our community.”
There have been dozens of stories published by YWN in the past few months of measles alerts issued by authorities involving Frum people who have not been vaccinated.
Last Wednesday, YWN published a story about a measles outbreak in New York, with 6 residents of Williamsburg and seven residents of Rockland County confirmed to have the disease. An additional eight suspected cases in Rockland County were being investigated involving a mix of adults and children. Many are linked to recent travel to Israel which has been dealing with the disease for months.
On Thursday, the Visnitz Monsey Girls School announced that any child who is not immunized, can’t return to school for 21 days. No “religious exemption” is accepted. A religious exemption does not work when there is a measles outbreak.
Three weeks ago, YWN reported about the Menahel of Breslov Mosdos in Tzefas having been infected with the measles. He was listed in critical condition at the time of the news story.
Earlier Wednesday, YWN published an article where MK (Yisrael Beitenu) Yulia Malinovsky on Monday, during a session of the Knesset Health Committee, blasted the chareidi public of intensifying the spread of measles in Israel because so many of the community refuse to vaccinate.
Measles is highly contagious, so anyone who is not protected against measles is at risk of getting the disease.
People who are unvaccinated risk getting infected with measles and spreading it to others, and they may spread measles to people who cannot get vaccinated because they are too young or have specific health conditions.
Individuals are considered protected or immune to measles if:
• they were born before 1957
• have received two doses of measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine
• have had measles confirmed by a health care provider
• or have a lab test confirming immunity
Symptoms include a fever, rash, cough, conjunctivitis or runny nose, and they could appear 10 to 12 days after exposure.
The virus can remain in the air or on surfaces for up to two hours.
To prevent the spread of illness, health officials are advising individuals who may have been exposed and who have symptoms consistent with measles to contact their health care provider, a local clinic, or a local emergency department before going for care.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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33 Responses
Yasher Koach to all of the Anti-Vaxxer nut jobs.
For those who have chosen not to vaccinate might I gently suggest you practice scrupulous hand hygiene by frequent washing and the use of germ killing sanitizers after coming into contact with surfaces that may have been contaminated through casual use i.e. railings, doors, counters etc, when out and about. The use of gloves and face masks with carbon filters aren’t such a bad idea either.
Everyone should try to retain perspective. Things will be as Hashem ordains them to be and all will be well.
@Moshe1994 – You mean the main Lakewood Rosh Yeshiva?
Please vaccinate your children or home school
them. My fully vaccinated son contracted pertussis from an unvaccinated classmate. Bh it was a mild case because he was vaccinated but it’s selfish to make the rest of us suffer.
Bunch of crazies. They will have blood on their hands.
chjewess, if your son was fully vaccinated he should have not been able to contract pertussis! That tells me that the vaccines are not as effective as the drug companies would like you to believe.
> bahby
Sounds like you are practicing a “straw-man” argument. Since when did anyone claim 100% effectiveness for any of these?
The Lakewood rosh yeshiva isn’t a doctor. It could be someone gave him bad information. Anybody who isn’t vaccinated should be quarantined.
Ferd, If it’s true he said that people should not vaccinate then 100% YES!!!!
However I do not believe he said this. He may have said you should accept people into Cheder without a vaccination. That is different then telling people not to vaccinate at all.
the issue which creates a chiyuv misah be’yedai shamayim is infecting babies below the age of vaccination. this should make people willing to risk that type of aveirah, think twice.
like the MK in israel, this is a problem in many communities; however, among Jews, the predominant groups responsible for this behavior are identified as chareidim.
@chjewess:
I’m with you on this one!!!
My Son was hospitalized for a week(!!!!)because he got Whooping Cough!!! He was only a few weeks old so he was not able to get the vaccine yet.
@bahby: You sound clueless!!!!
Kids get vaccinations in installments so until they are a few years old, they aren’t totally immune.
To all stupid anti vaccination idiots, I hope that your kids get all these sicknesses, why do babies and people that can’t vaccinate due to pre existing medical conditions have to suffer due to the stupidity of you guys?
Unbelievably selfish from you.
What AIRLINE and flight did this person take? EVERYONE on that flight is at risk.
The anti vaccine lunatics are being strangely quiet now, I wonder why?
Not just the RY of BMG. Also one of the most senior RY in the country, RY of Lakewood’s oldest and most famous satellite,
MW – I know who you’re talking about, but I also know they seek out pts that have disease to get immunity that way.
Bahby -“That tells me that the vaccines are not as effective as the drug companies would like you to believe.”
No one says that they are THAT EFFECTIVE!
From the CDC:
“Some observational studies suggest that pertussis infection can provide immunity for 4 to 20 years.”
And even less for an immunization shot.
Can anyone understand the bottom chart of this document? Does it seem to indicate that those children who were fully vaccinated for pertussis (DtaP vaccine) had more cases of the illness than those who were not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated?
Here is the chart:
https://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/downloads/pertuss-surv-report-2017.pdf
@ Gold
You are correct in that the chart indicates those children fully vaccinated for pertussis had more cases of the illness than those who were only partially vaccinated or not vaccinated at all. The paragraph beneath, however, goes on to explain the the efficacy of the pertussis component in the vaccine wanes over time so that even those who are fully vaccinated are still at risk of contracting the illness. They generally don’t get as sick as those who are not vaccinated but as was the case with Chjewess her fully vaccinated son still became ill.
As far as goes the pertussis vaccine, children in some other states are statistically more susceptible to becoming ill with pertussis than are the children of New York and New Jersey… Colorado, Vermont and Maine for example.
So maybe we can all lay off the Chassids a bit. As it happens my children are all fully vaccinated but I can’t imagine they love their children any less for having made the conscientious decision to not vaccinate.
Gold – I answered all questions in the CR. Your particular issue – look at my post in “Gee anti-vaxerrs” on page 7, bottom of the page.
You’ll then understand why the Gov. came out with DtaP, instead of just DtP.
Someone once said “G-d watches over fools and drunks”. If that’s true, Hashem will כביכול will be working overtime.
@Gold
The chart shows the total cases of pertussis and the vaccination status of people who got it.
For example, 374 unvaccinated children and 228 undervaccinated got it while 1620 vaccinated people got it. However, in the notes it says that >95% of children are vaccinated. Assuming a similar number for all children up to age 6 (those shown on chart), to have 602 cases from unvaccinated and undervaccinated (which is only 95% of population) you see the numbers are way higher.
If you take away the unknown people it comes out that 602 out of 2222 cases (27%) are coming from <5% of the population.
This is aside from the fact that unvaccinated children get much more severe disease.
One note on vaccination effectiveness as a whole – It is not 100% effective. No one claims it is. The point is that it is about 95-98 percent effective. Once that is the case, if everyone gets the vaccine then the disease will be wiped out within a few years. If it was 100% effective then nobody would care if people didnt vaccinate. The problem is that it is not 100% and it works based on the assumption that everybody will get it and then the disease will become non-existent (as many of these were in most countries until recently). Because it is not 100% effective even a vaccinated child could catch it from someone. That's why people get upset about it. It can cause their child harm.
That would’ve been King David who said that (at least the part about the fools) in Psalms 116:6.
I feel terrible for those babies and those who were too weak to receive vaccines and have contracted diseases. I really do and pray for their health and recovery. But let’s be open minded and understand the OTHER SIDE. Just as people vaccinate b’shita, with haskamos from their doctors, with the intent to stay healthy, there ARE reasons NOT to vaccinate which are being ignored and laughed at, and have top medical people in the field that are against it. Remember, vaccines are an unnatural drug, with chemicals, and a drop of the illness germ enough to immunize you but not enough to harm you. My mother in law stopped taking flu shots because for years she always got the flu afterward.
To all those who are have resentments towards anti-vaccinaters:
People who do not vaccinate, b’shita, is usually because they, or their children, have unfortunately experienced one of the DEVASTATING SIDE EFFECTS that vaccines can potentially harm you with. Have you ever read them? Please ask your doctor next time you vaccinate and read the labels of the vaccines (that most people usually ignore) for more in detail information. There’s no question that statistically vaccines are usually extremely effective and good. Statistically. But….many are harmed by them, and these days, (for many parents) they inject waaaay too many vaccines into young children, many of them under the age of 2 yrs old!! It wasn’t like when I was growing up in the 80’s or 90’s. They juice up kids way too much nowadays, (as soon as they’re born they get a shot.) And how about the vaccines for HPV (an STD) which are mandatory for KIDS to take in some places or they can’t go to school?! Yeah, Jewish schools too! But do the parents even know what these vaccines are for? Most parents don’t ask, they just say if it’s a vaccine then sure inject my kids. Now, I’m not saying DON’T vaccinate. I’m just saying there are 2 sides and they are both validated and people should be made aware and decide what’s best for them and their kids. So let’s not be so hasty to judge, and and be resentful, when there are valid reasons. I don’t think ANY parent if they loved their kids, avoids vaccination out of pure ignorance nor laziness. There’s always reasons. You may not like them, but that’s for each parents to decide what’s good for them and their families. Having said that, those who choose not to vaccinate, should at least have an alternate approach (acupuncture, herbal medicine, homoeopathy, etc ) to prevent sickness and disease.
May Hashem protect us all.
BTW does everyone know that it’s against the muslim religion to vaccinate. It’s not a chilukay dayis over there. And they are in the public schools no problem and walking all over the streets of brooklyn. why are you harping on the chareidim?
> Gold
As far as I can tell, the chart shows reported cases. It does not show what percentage of the whole population was actually vaccinated. To understand this, I give the an extreme example for simplicity.
Imagine a population of exactly 102 people. Out of those 102 people, only 2 persons were NOT vaccinated and the other 100 were vaccinated. The disease shows up only in 1 person who was NOT vaccinated (50% of the not vaccinated population) and 9 people who were vaccinated (9% of the vaccinated population).
But, the way the chart reads, there is a total of 10 cases of the disease. The non-diseased people are ignored (which is what skews the numbers so badly). So the chart reads 1 NOT vaccinated disease (10% of diseases, not 10% of the population) with 9 vaccinated disease (90% of the diseases).
Despite the chart, clearly the numbers show the vaccinated population is better protected.
definitely should tickle how DrYidd,etc.
such mouthing pieties all the sudden now when egarding a topic that is not explicit
This is whether you on either side of this vaccination divide
I personally am Pro,
overall With their deficiencies still better to follow the medical professionals the doctors follow of our era
One has to admire anti-vaxxers for the willingness of stand-up against the tsunami Flooding against them even as I am terrified of the potential effects
BaalHabooze -“There’s always reasons. You may not like them, but that’s for each parents to decide what’s good for them and their families.”
So let live in a cave! When they come out in public they contribute to the spreading of disease.
This insanity has to be dealt with just like they deal with s/o who has a TV or unfiltered internet!
As a physician it angers and saddens me how fools whether doctors or laymen know it alls, do not vaccinate. There is absolutely no evidence to autism or anything of the like linked to vaccinations. The whole scandal started from one article which was retracted by the journal who published it and the author was criminally tried in UK for falsifying data. Furthermore, באזני שמעתי from rav asher Weiss that there is a chova to the tzibbir to vaccinate. You wouldn’t want people paskening shailos without knowledge of halacha but when it comes to medicine everyone is an expert
its time for truth, I will respond when you write something comprehensible. did you receive any secular education after kindergarten? certainly not obvious 🙂 to me.
@verapoi yerapei – As you are a physician, it saddens and baffles me that you clearly do not understand the basis for the non-vaccinating opinion. It has very little to do with Wakefield (who is provax – his article explored the connection between gut health and the MMR vaccine. His conclusion was that a monovalent vaccine should be implemented.) Vaccination hesitancy has been around for decades, and is only strengthened each year as the number of vaccines added to the mandatory schedule increases without sufficient safety measures in place. Vaccines are not studied as rigorously as other drugs, with placebo, double-blind, long-term studies. Nor is any thought given to vaccine interactions, despite many being given simultaneously. Drug companies are not liable for injuries sustained, and there are thousands of stories of vaccine injury – you would never buy a product with such terrible structure and “reviews” – why would you inject it into yourself or your developing children?
All parents love their children. Those who vaccinate believe their doctors, who are following the CDC party line and encouraging them to vaccinate, despite very few (doctors or parents) having actually done any research themselves. They lovingly inject their children with toxins to prevent what they see as a worse outcome. Those parents who don’t vaccinate have done sufficient research and heard enough first-hand tragedy to listen to their consciences and intellects, and lovingly refrain from injecting their children with substances they believe will certainly do them more harm than good.
The most important thing to remember here is – we’re family! We love our children and we love each other’s children – no one is deliberately trying to hurt anyone else!
@Health – wow, not reading my entire post except that one sentence and using it without any context is not cool
Ywn why do my comments not posted? They consistently get deleted and I’m not sure why..please explain!