© Seth Wenig/APThe United Talmudical Academy reopened after being closed for failing to comply with a Health Department order that required it to provide medical and attendance records amid a measles outbreak.
Judge Lawrence Knipel on Thursday refused parents' request to lift the vaccination order that was imposed last week to stem a severe measles outbreak. "A fireman need not obtain the informed consent of the owner before extinguishing a house fire," Knipel wrote in his ruling as quoted by Gothamist. "Vaccination is known to extinguish the fire of contagion."
On the same day, the city announced that it was closing four more schools and issuing three civil summons for parents who had failed to comply with the mandate.
As of Thursday, the New York Department of Health had recorded 359 cases of measles since the outbreak began in October, up from 329 confirmed cases on Monday. The cases are centered in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn.
A group of five parents had sued the city over the mandated measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations, claiming that the current outbreaks do not justify "drastic emergency measures" that override individual rights. The lawsuit argued that the outbreak was not a "clear and present danger to public health."
But the judge disagreed.
"The unvarnished truth is that these diagnoses represent the most significant spike in incidence of measles in the United States in many years and the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn is at its epicenter," he wrote in his opinion, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Robert Krakow, the parents' attorney, said that his clients were disappointed and that they were discussing next steps, according to The Journal. He said he was not surprised by the decision.
In Thursday's release, the city said it had identified three children who were exposed to measles but were still unvaccinated as of last Friday. The cases will go to a hearing, where parents will pay a $1,000 penalty if the violations are upheld, according to the city. Parents who do not appear at the hearing or respond to the summons will be fined $2,000.
The city said its health authority is working with community leaders to ensure schools comply with emergency mandates.
A preschool program at United Talmudical Academy, which was closed for violating a city order that required it to provide medical and attendance records, reopened on Thursday "under Health Department monitoring," the city announced.
"Because of measles' long incubation period, we know this outbreak will get worse before it gets better," said Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot in a press release on Thursday. "However, we can turn the tide by people getting vaccinated, especially before Passover when families and communities will gather."
Prior to the hearing, the city's Board of Health had voted to extend the mandate until the end of the current outbreak. Barbot said on Wednesday that an estimated 500 children aged 1 to 5 in Williamsburg had been vaccinated since the mandate was imposed on April 9, Gothamist reports.
"The purpose of this emergency order isn't to fine people," Barbot said. "It's to stress the urgency and the importance of getting vaccinated and to enlist as many people as possible spreading the message that these vaccines are safe and effective."
According to city data, about 14% of the children aged 1 to 5 in Williamsburg still have not been immunized, Gothamist reports.
In Washington state, which also has seen a measles outbreak this year, lawmakers in the Senate passed a bill Wednesday that removes the personal belief exemption from MMR vaccinations, as NPR's Laurel Wamsley reports. The bill, which is expected to become law, leaves medical and religious exemptions intact.
The concerns of the child and family are not a concern, they have an agenda to follow. And if this causes harm, well...so what, the family will bear that burden...we are not here to help, we only adhere to push the vaccines, to prevent the herd from spreading infection.
That is the message I get from the pro vaxxers, and they are protected, because vaccine suppliers can never be sued for negligence. It's not their fault that the child suffered a vaccine injury!
They say to protect humanity....Hmmm. why so many Measles outbreaks since the advent of vaccination.which for the most part was considered a benign infection, I myself had a dose of Measles as a young child, along with my brother. and suffered no ill effect (I have a younger sister that is immune).
That is until I lived in Canada, and a "new" vaccine was introduced, which is a live vaccine, against shingles, and lo and behold I got shingles. I didn't take the vaccine, but because of the push to receive the vaccine, and because of the viral shedding of a live virus, well, what do you know, I got Shingles.
Could this be called a vaccine story.