It’s no secret that the frum world is in the midst of an outbreak of measles. The cause of this outbreak is also no secret: a small group of people who have irresponsibly decided not to follow the advice of the medical professionals and refuse to vaccinate themselves and their children.
If these people were only putting themselves and their families at risk of catching dangerous diseases, we could look the other way. Whether or not you are doing your due diligence to keep yourself safe is between you and Hashem. But the problem is that refusing vaccination puts others at risk. This is due to two reason: 1) Not everybody is able to get a vaccination. Some have a weakened immune system due to another disease (such as cancer) and their bodies cannot react properly to vaccination, leaving them at the mercy of those around them. Some are simply too young – nobody under six months can be vaccinated. 2) The MMR vaccine is only 97% effective. And while that may sound like a lot, the fact remains that if 100 people are exposed to highly contagious measles germs, 3 of them will become sick.
So what are we, the silent majority, to do about this? How can we protect ourselves from the dangers posed by the Anti-Vaxxers?
The simple answer is that we must work to limit our exposure to people who may be carrying diseases. This is the only thing we can do to keep ourselves and our families safe.
Many Shuls have begun hanging up signs informing all that only those who have been appropriately vaccinated may enter the premise. This is a no-brainer way to reduce possible exposure to dangerous diseases. If your Shul has not yet joined the movement, make sure to urge your Shul Rov and/or Gabbai to do so.
Many schools have informed their parent body that unvaccinated children may not come to school due to the risk they pose to other students. If you are unsure what actions your childrens’ schools are taking to ensure their safety, make to sure to express your concerns to the Hanhalla.
The same goes for babysitters. To send a small child to a babysitter without ensuring that all the other children are vaccinated is bordering on negligence.
Something people may not have thought of is speaking to their doctors. Many doctors will not take patients who do not vaccinate. The reason for this is obvious: the last thing a sick person, with an already compromised immune system, needs is to contract measles in the waiting room. Make sure your doctor is keeping you and your family safe.
[MAILBAG: Time to Stand Up to the Anti-Vaxxers]
We should also be expressing our support to private stores that declare that only vaccinated people may enter the premise. We should make sure to support such stores, and view the added safety that this assures us as being a perk well worth paying for.
We must take the initiative and get ahead of this outbreak before it becomes a full-fledged epidemic. Im ain ani li, mi li – we must stand up for ourselves and work to ensure the safety of ourselves and our families. If we sit back and do nothing, allowing this dangerous disease to spread, we will have only ourselves to blame.
Doing Due Diligence in Monsey
NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN.
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15 Responses
And there you go folks. See how utterly blinded and insane these cult-members are?
Kick every stinking one of these kids out of our Yeshivas. They are walking time bombs, and their parents are murderers.
Let them open their own Yeshivas and Shuls.
There are so many factual problems here….I just cant…. I. Just. can’t. As for personal rights….your rights end where it infringes on the rights of other people not to be exposed to danger. And make no mistake, measles is NOT a benign disease. So if you want to proceed with the shtus, go right ahead. But, be prepared to deal with the consequences of this decision. Including, but not limited to, being restricted from certain places and/or participating in certain activities.
Lubavitcher
Rebbe, Should We Vaccinate?
Timeless advice from the Rebbe: To the father who was debating whether to vaccinate his young children.
In a letter dated 2 Sivan 5715, the Rebbe replies to a father who was wondering whether or not to vaccinate his young children.
The Rebbe writes:
It is said on such areas that “Do not separate from the community” (Pirkei Avos 2:5).
He should do what most of the class in his children’s school do and may G-d Almighty help them to raise all of their children, may they live, to Torah, Chuppah and good deeds with abundance.
(Source: Igros Kodesh, volume 11, page 137)
Your not posting many important comments. Stop hiding from the truth about the Measels.
@kavod habriot first of all i am glad that you are reading and seeing what our community thinks of you. Lets begin with the first thing you wrote that as a parent it should be your decision to take risks on the body of your children that is totally not true if you are irresponsible when it comes to matters of health than you!!! should not make these decisions
. you write ”if a vaccine damages your children then” well there is no bases for you to say something like that if you belive all these phony guys and think that every doctor is out there to get you why by a heart atack dont you run to some nature crazy you call the vaccine companys criminal well the fact that you are healthy is because they are around id call the unacountable people that brain washed you criminal. And the ”bill of rights” well the Constitution gives every person a right to defend themselves even if it meant buying guns
From what I have heard, the staunch ones are now submitting falsified immunization forms to schools to get the pressure off of themselves.
You guys are biased and not honest about your reporting on this issue. Shame on you!
Can YWN report on the news with inserting endless propaganda? That photo is of the worst possible kind of measles. Much of the time a kid gets a few spots and then gets better. Why don’t you post a few photos of all the children that have died from vaccinations and the ones suspected of developing autism? This is a complicated topic. Many anti-vaxers are anti the quantity of vaccinations that kids get today and the chemicals put in them. Can we in the frum world have an intelligent exchange about anything? Is every topic a shame fest of simplicity?
from the nys doh website
RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION
Q1: What is a religious exemption?
A1: A religious exemption is a written and signed statement from the parent, parents or
guardian of such child, stating that the parent, parents or guardian objects to their child’s
immunization because of sincere and genuine religious beliefs which prohibit the
immunization of their child. The principal or person in charge of the school may require
supporting documents. The school decides whether to accept or reject the request for a
religious exemption
Interesting to see certain ‘gedolim’ wheeled out to comment, except when they have already expressed opinions opposing the mindless majority.
If the debate – huh! what debate? – were only about the measles vaccine, it would be offered singly to those who have a problem with 3-in-one (the trinitaians). But the simple fact that it is either not offered, or offered at great cost, appears to support the claim that this is yet another ploy to force people to follow what our decision-makers require.
No-one claims that Big Pharma is out to decimate us – we are not multiplying uncontrollably and irresponsibly, and we are not colored. They are simply out to make money, and will bulldoze anyone who stands in their way. They have several times held sovreign states to ransom by moving manufacturing bases away when certain money-spinners (medication, to us) were denied a permit for use in that country. Literally dozens of cases of falsifying trial results and withholding negative information have reached the courts, incurring massive fines – but not deterring repeat offences. Lawmakers are hansomely rewarded for introducing sympathetic clauses into legislation – on occasion, even into legislation that has no connection with medication. Doctors are hansomely rewarded for reaching target numbers of patients. Medical journals are hansomely rewarded for publishing pro-medication articles, and refusing to publish the results of peer-reviewed trials that contradict manufacturers’ claims. No-one can claim to be financially neutral.
Individuals do not factor in the calculations; the ‘collateral damage’ is never calculated – there is no legal requirement to provide numbers or even keep records; there is only a requirement to deny, deny, deny.
At the outset of any outbreak, the spokespeople for the medical proffession jump to blame those who refuse to vaccinate. An investigative committee is set up, and reports back after people have long lost interest. The vast majority of such reports uncover that the outbreak began through a vaccination program, under which a known percentage of people developed the illness they were vaccinated against. They infected others – even those who had been vaccinated. Thus another chance to make winfall profits by vaccinating everyone.
Anyone who has ever seen a victim of vaccination would certainly think twice before pushing others to vaccinate.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) whose business it is protecting us from disease outbreaks, in the days before vaccination between 400 – 500 people a year DIED from measles in the US, plus many, many more who suffered lasting damage. This doesn’t sound “harmless” to me. Yes, I survived the measles (and chickenpox too) but I was lucky not to be one of the victims. And people still die, as the poor child in Yerushalayim did, and the Rosh Yeshiva who ended up in the ICU almost did.
Unfortunately, the issue of people faking vaccination certificates to get their kids into school isn’t new. I remember such a scandal in Boro Park in the 1990s. You should know that this thing is a great Chillul HaShem. People assume that all frum/Chassidish people are primitive and believe narishkeit, and the rest of us – and the Torah – get labeled as backward. It also contributes to other problems with the authorities, such as the controversy around bris milah, because health officials just assume that we are superstitious idiots who are trying to cover things up, rather than seeing the serious issues we have.
A school, shul or other institution has the right to forbid people it considers dangerous from entering.
Sinas Chinam, anyone? Once upon a time I desired to live in Lakewood. Everyone knew that it was an ‘ihr haTorah’ where true values prevailed. I bemoaned the fact that I lived in a community where secular values infiltrated way too much for my taste. I was willing to make due with the many restrictions those in the Lakewood community do. For x reason, it didn’t happen. Today, I am so glad it didn’t. There are tears in my eyes as I write this; as I think of the many parents and kinderlach who are being harassed in Lakewood. Other communities have had their “outbreaks” but there hasn’t been the strong sinas chinam we’ve seen in Lakewood. My child is vaccinated, but I allow her to play with anyone and everyone regardless of their vaccination status. I am so, so pained by what the people in Lakewood are going through.
As I was scrolling down Yeshiva World News, I caught sight of a few words in a headline: Hate in NYC. I paused, my mind finishing the sentence this way: hate divides Lakewood over the vaccine issue’. Do we not have enough tzaros without this hate? Civil War, Jew Hating Jew, is that going to be the next headline? Shame on ‘ihr haTorah’ Lakewood. Have schools listened to the greatest gedolim they have in their midst? All I’m hearing is docs in Lakewood. Where are the rabbanim? Have they been consulted over the ‘shfichas damim’ that is being done here? You are concerned about unvaccinated children being ‘possible killers’ (Doesn’t make sense to me,-nor to Rav Moshe Feinstein-but OK). YOU ARE A DEFINITE KILLER by hamalbim pnei chaveiro.
“If these people were only putting themselves and their families at risk of catching dangerous diseases, we could look the other way.” No we can’t we must take the kids by force and vaccinate them because they should not be put in danger because of their parents negligence! Lo saamod al dam rayecha! Why don’t child protection services take the kids and vaccinate them?! Anti vaxxers I’m sure you wouldn’t be so happy if everyone stopped vaccinating. The 90% or so that do vaccinate are your protection. If you think vaccinations are dangerous, why not be concerned about the vaxxers? And why are you worried about “risk” of autism and not the risk of dangerous illness?