The New York State Legislature passed a bill ending religious exemptions to vaccinations and raising awareness regarding the significance of immunizations.
The passage of the legislation (S2994/A2371) comes amid the ongoing measles outbreak in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that there were 1,022 individual cases of measles in 28 states as of June 6, 2019.
Most of measles cases in New York involve Orthodox Jewish community
In the State of New York, a total of 854 confirmed individual cases of measles have been reported including 588 in New York City as of June 10 and 266 in Rockland County as of June 12.
Most of the measles cases in the state involved members of the Orthodox Jewish community where there are low rates of vaccinations. A number of people from the community claim religious exemption to avoid vaccination for themselves or their children.
On April 12, the New York City Health Department ordered a mandatory measles mumps rubella (MMR) vaccination for unvaccinated individuals living in select areas in Williamsburg.
