Judge Won't Issue Injunction For Rockland Anti-Vaxxers

NEW CITY, NY — A judge in Rockland County refused to issue a temporary injunction Tuesday that would let unvaccinated students at Green Meadow Waldorf School return to classes despite the county's measles outbreak.

Lawyer Michael Sussman, who is representing 44 parents, was in U.S. District Court Tuesday seeking the injunction for the children, who've been out of school for five months during the unprecedented outbreak. Judge Vincent Briccetti ruled the plaintiffs hadn't shown that the public interest was best served by an injunction.

"Further excluding scores of children from school when there is not a single active measles case in Rockland County continues what we regard as a baseless and irrational overreach of administrative authority," Sussman told Patch. "We are disappointed that the decision did not more strongly value the impact on the excluded children IN THIS SPECIFIC context. The county conceded today that there is no active measles case in the entire county [the last was reported 3/3 and there is a four day contagion period]. In this context, my clients remain deeply disturbed about the ongoing exclusion and are reviewing their options."

Sussman is arguing that that state law about communicable diseases does not allow for exclusions of students unless the school they attend has an outbreak.

Rockland health officials began invoking state law on disease outbreaks back when there were 11 cases confirmed. County officials received authority from the New York State Health Department in October to require unvaccinated students to keep away from certain schools with low vaccination rates. In December, they further restricted students, applying the order to all schools in the 10952 and 10977 zip codes that had not reached a 95 percent vaccination rate. The rule will not be lifted until at least 21 days after a measles case has been reported.

Rockland County Attorney Thomas Humbach issued a statement after the court hearing:

We have had success, but this case is not over. We are thankful that at this juncture we were able to establish to U.S. District Court Judge Vincent Briccetti that the county’s interest in protecting the public health was the highest priority and will remain so. While no one enjoys the fact that these kids are out of school these orders have worked; they have helped prevent the measles outbreak from spreading to this school population. We will continue to press forward to protect the public health as that is the primary objective of the government.

Humbach said Monday that the religious exemptions given to Green Meadow students run the gamut from references to organized Christian doctrine to a generalized spirituality.

"As the case progresses, we expect several of the exemptions to be challenged, as not evincing a sincere religious belief against vaccination," he said.

There are now 145 confirmed cases of measles in Rockland County as well as three suspected cases that the Rockland County Department of Health is continuing to investigate. These confirmed cases are the total since the outbreak began in October and are not all active cases.

Four out of five measles victims in Rockland are under 19. Most were unvaccinated or under-vaccinated: vaccination rates for confirmed measles cases in Rockland County:

• 82.1 percent have had 0 MMRs
• 3.4 percent have had 1 MMR
• 4.1 percent have had 2 MMRs
• 10.3 percent unknown status

Most of the cases have been in the Ultra-Orthodox community in Rockland. Though many children in that community are unvaccinated, Rockland Health Commissioner Patricia Ruppert said local rabbis told her there was no religious injunction against vaccination.

Visit the Measles Information section of the Rockland County Department of Health website for further information.

SEE ALSO: Measles May Make You Vulnerable To Other Deadly Diseases