New York City’s mayor declared a public health emergency on Tuesday in response to a measles outbreak that has primarily affected the Strictly Orthodox Jewish community.
The health commissioner ordered “every adult and child who lives, works or resides in Williamsburg and has not received the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine to be vaccinated.”
The Brooklyn neighbourhood is considered to be the epicentre of the crisis.
Individuals who fail to comply, or parents of unvaccinated children, could be fined $1,000 (£764) if they cannot prove that they are immune to the disease or medically exempt from vaccination.
“The goal here is to send a message that people need to act immediately,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
There have been 285 confirmed cases of measles in Brooklyn and Queens since October, the vast majority affecting unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children.
Mr de Blasio called the outbreak a “very serious situation” and noted a “huge spike” since 2017, when there were only two confirmed cases in New York City.
The city’s health department believes the crisis began after an unvaccinated child contracted measles during a trip to Israel, where there has also been an outbreak.
Officials previously tried distributing enlisting the support of local rabbis, but cases remain on the rise, with 26 confirmed in Williamsburg in the past week alone.
In December, the city ordered “yeshivas and childcare centers serving the Orthodox Jewish community in the affected ZIP codes in Brooklyn to exclude all unvaccinated students from attending school or daycare until the outbreak is declared over”. One school was found to be in violation and has since been connected to more than 40 cases.
Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot said the outbreak “is being fuelled by a small group of anti-vaxxers” in the affected neighbourhoods who “have been spreading dangerous misinformation based on fake science.”
Both Dr Barbot and the mayor stressed the time of year as a particular risk.
“The outbreak could in fact especially spread because soon it will be Pesach,” Mr de Blasio said, “there will be school vacations, there will be more and more families together. The last thing we want to see is more family members afflicted by this disease.”
He went on to stress the role of the community in prevention. “I want to be clear. It is not our hope or our goal to issue a violation. We want to simply solve the problem.”
