Current measles outbreak hit ultra-Orthodox the hardest
Scope of current outbreak has improved image of vaccination among usually skeptical community.
By Tamar Rotem Tags: Orthodox Jews JerusalemOne morning this week, at the Breslav Hasidism's central synagogue in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood, a healing ritual was performed to cure a child with measles.
In the worst case of this year's measles outbreak, the 12-year-old girl has been on artificial respiration in Shaare Zedek Hospital's intensive care unit since the beginning of the week. On Wednesday, her condition was described as serious.
Most of the 180 people who have contracted the disease this year are from the ultra-Orthodox communities of Jerusalem and Bnei Brak, where there remains some resistance to vaccinations. However, the scope of the disease this time around has led to an unprecedented vaccination drive of more than 10,000 ultra-Orthodox school children. The Israel Association for Public Health Services is responsible for vaccinations in schools, under the Health Ministry's supervision.
The latest flare-up of measles began at the end of summer, when two carriers of the virus arrived from London to attend an ultra-Orthodox wedding in Jerusalem. The two were hospitalized in Jerusalem. Shortly afterward, dozens of patients, mostly children and pregnant women from ultra-Orthodox families who did not vaccinate their children, contracted the disease in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak.
Dr. Nitza Abramson, the deputy Jerusalem district health officer, said there may be even more measles cases. "We assume that dozens of patients have not been reported," she said.
The ultra-Orthodox refusal to be vaccinated is connected to a traditional rejection of Zionism. Following the establishment of the State of Israel, many refused to cooperate with its institutions, including the National Insurance Institute, the Histadrut's health maintenance organization and well-baby clinics. Vaccinations were seen as government policy and boycotted.
In any case, the ultra-Orthodox public largely believes that everything is in God's hands. Even though one must make the effort and go to the doctor, measles was not seen as a disease people die from.
Over the years, the ultra-Orthodox boycott of many state institutions has weakened and today Mea Shearim residents have become ardent HMO members and most of them even vaccinate their children. However, pockets of resistance to vaccination remain in Neturei Karta and Hasidic courts such as Satmar, Dushinsky Dushinsky, Toldos Aharon and Toldos Avraham Yitzhak. Some families don't vaccinate their children for other reasons, preferring alternative medicine, whose popularity is spreading among newly religious people and the Breslav community.
The Health Ministry's efforts to inform the ultra-Orthodox about the importance of vaccinations was blocked until recently and even talks with their rabbis did no good. During the previous measles outbreak, in 2003, an ultra-Orthodox child died, but the authorities' bid to vaccinate the community was only partially successful.
Ahuva Holtzberg, the head nurse of the Israel Association for Public Health Services, believes that the ultra-Orthodox community's cooperation with the present vaccination operation derives from the fact that it is not being run by the Health Ministry itself.
"It's like a burst dam -- when one school hears that another's children are being vaccinated, it quickly decides to vaccinate its own pupils also," said Eli Haimo, a veteran association nurse.
Haimo also said the notices that the association sent parents did not bear the Health Ministry's logo, so as not to deter them. School principles were promised that the names of the inoculated children would not be passed on to the Health Ministry. Male nurses conducted the vaccinations in boys' schools while female ones did the work in the girls' schools. In addition, many parents of smaller children bring them to association centers for inoculation.
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"Asthma, cot death and Autism and other `childhood diseases` have been proven without question to be heavily linked to Vaccination." No, they haven't.
Read Leonard G. Horowitz Ph.D.'s book "Emerging Viruses: AIDS & Ebola" available at Amazon.com which sets out the proof of Vaccines used as Population Control. Checkout the mountain of evidence against Vaccines at local Anti-Vaccination sites, www.avn.org.au has links to most international sites. Since when is injecting deadly substances into the body such as mercury derivatives "protection"? Most top Doctors & Scientists have scientifically damned Vaccines as dangerous to health. Asthma, cot death and Autism and other 'childhood diseases' have been proven without question to be heavily linked to Vaccination. The only dangerous form of Measles is atypical measles, which kills and is only found present in FULLY VACCINATED children. In 1994 in Australia, all who died of Measles were FULLY VACCINATED!! Baruch Hashem for the Rabbonim who have protected a generation from crippling mental and physical illness by opposing this destructive and dangerous practice.
Although I disagree w/you, this goes according to your reasoning: 1) Firstly, many haredim work & do pay taxes. Do you know for a fact the measles occurred to children of families who don't work? 2) Haredim bring HUGE amounts of money in from chutz laaretz including life-long savings from people making aliyah and people being supported by willing partners in their spiritual endeavors. When they buy homes they are giving money to the medina who claimed for themselves ALL the real estate in Israel. 3) The haredim convert their money to shekels, and whenever the medina prints money they are taxing haredim's shekels to the same proportions. 4) Overall, more money goes from haredim to the state then v.v. Haredim pay heavily in sales taxes, which aside from daily needs, includes home buying & selling. Finally, 95% of problems w/ Arabs, the need for an expensive army & weapons came from antaganozing Arabs with the creation of a Jewish state & zionism; haredim pay for this as well.
From the following statement, ask yourself: "Most of the 180 people who have contracted the disease this year are from the ultra-Orthodox communities of Jerusalem and Bnei Brak, where there remains some resistance to vaccinations." - how many of those 180 were previously vaccinated? Many many people throughout the world who have contracted measles were vaccinated against the very disease itself! Using scare tactics is the only way you can have people conform to your belief that vaccines are the answer to all diseases. It is just not true. Look at the VAERS statistics in the U.S. for goodness sake; that is only about 10% of the truth too!
If Iran or some other malcontent nation were to use Bio weapons, what would the ultr orhodox do???
What a backward tribe the israelis are! Overseas, many thinking people refuse the vaccinations, as the concoction of drugs involved are implicated in autism. Pity the israeli doctors run headlong after every fashion put forward overseas without doing their own research. If this were a defence matter, no one would rely on overseas agendas, would they? Oh, and SJ - do you have data to back up your claim, or are you just repeatng what you saw last week in haaretz?
I'm going to put it firmly. If a member of the Ultra Orthodox rejects the State, then the State has no duty of care: this is a form of treason and in fact that member should be imprisoned or ejected from the State of Israel. I have no sympathy for enemies of the State who are Jewish. There are enough Non-Jewish enemies!
Same happens in other countries. Various christian sects refuse vaccination (and blood donations) for children. The result is an increase of dangerous infections. In the name of their strange gods they prefer to sacrify children. It is horrible to see that jewish sects are not different. Shame on their rabbis, or is it rabies?
Lucky for them they have the secular tax payer to pay for their treatments ! Seing as most of them dont acutally work , pay taxes or contribute the health fund.
In Israel, are children who attend government run schools - public secular and public religious schools - required to be vaccinated before entering? Are parents required to show proof of vaccination? Or is it a school by school basis, or do schools believe they don't have to right to request that information???
What wastefulness of human effort this is, to deny the product of research. The most ridiculous of all are the New Age newly religious who believe in the semi-sciences.
Such foolishness on the part of those ultra orthodox parents that donot immunize their children for measles and other dangerous diseases.Not only do they endanger the lives of their own children but the lives of every single person their child comes in contact with. Haven't they ever heard of Typhoid Mary, and the sickness and death she spread because they didn't know how to prevent spreas of disease in her day? There is no excuse for not vacination of your children against these dangerous disease, they can kill, or cripple a child for life! We need to educate the Rabbis about that then they can educate their followers!