'Anti-Vaxxer Propaganda' To Blame For Measles Outbreak: Lawmakers

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK -- Lawmakers want to end vaccine exemptions on religious grounds as a Measles epidemic spreads across Orthodox Jewish schools, with more than 250 cases reported in New York City and more than 440 cases statewide.

Bronx Assembly member Jeffrey Dinowitz and Manhattan state Senator Brad Hoylman are pushing legislation that would eliminate non-medical exemptions to the state's school vaccine requirements for “children whose parent, parents, or guardian hold genuine and sincere religious beliefs,” the legislators announced Thursday.

Dinowitz and Holyman argue the religious exemption is being abused by parents with a philosophical, and not faith-derived, objection to vaccination, which is not protected by state law, and point to social media campaigns as the root of the problem.

"We’re calling for Albany to reject the anti-vaxxer propaganda and join California to end non-medical exemptions," said Holyman.

"Choosing not to vaccinate without a medical reason is putting the rights of other children and their parents in jeopardy," added Dinowitz. "We must rely on scientific fact and not allow the false information being spread on social media to dictate how to protect our children.”

The New York lawmakers rallied for vaccine legislation reform one day after the city's Department of Health confirmed there have been 259 measles cases in Brooklyn and Queens and the Rockland County health department reported 161 cases across the Hudson River, near The Bronx.

Their legislation — which mirrors similar laws passed in California, West Virginia and Mississippi — is currently in the Health committees of the New York Assembly and state Senate.

The lawmaker's press release included a statement from an upstate rabbi and biology professor who argued Jewish law does not condemn parents from inoculating their children against the Measles.

“Jewish law makes people responsible for the health of their children and the good health of their children is designed by the medical profession, not by the rabbinic profession," argued Rabbi Dr. Mosche D. Tendler, Professor of Biology, Medical Ethics, and Senior Rabbi at Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University.

"It violates Jewish law not to vaccinate your children."