Rockland County Measles Ban Goes Into Effect

A ban prohibiting unvaccinated children from public places in Rockland County — considered the first of its kind in the nation — has gone into effect, spurring scattered resistance.

For the next 30 days, kids who don’t have the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine won’t be allowed in enclosed public spaces like shopping malls or trains. That's in addition to an earlier ban the county put in place in December that prevented unvaccinated kids from attending schools.

"We've gotten to the point where people were not cooperating," said County Attorney Thomas Humbach. He said people known to have had the measles went to public places and their parents were refusing to answer questions.

On Thursday morning, a few individuals opposed to vaccines gathered at the county's largest shopping mall, Palisades Center, to protest. However, they were not allowed to carry signs inside the mall.

A handful of people unhappy with Rockland County’s measles emergency order have gathered here at the Palisades Mall. Besides opposition to vaccines, they say there are civil rights issues @wcbs880 pic.twitter.com/LtMDkwR4JS

— Steve Burns (@StvBurns) March 28, 2019

County officials say they're not going to be proactively enforcing this latest ban, but if health officials determine after the fact that a contagious child spread the measles in a public place to others, the parents could face fines or jail time.

"What we really want is the awareness to be increased so that people say, 'You know what? I want to get my child vaccinated,'" Rockland County Health commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel-Ruppert said. "'I will abide by that state of emergency declared there must be a good reason.'"

About three dozen people showed up at a free vaccination clinic the county sponsored Wednesday afternoon. Some had babies just old enough to get their shots, others were immigrants who hadn't been vaccinated in their home countries, and a few were there for a booster.

"As a responsible citizen, I came to do what I had to do," said Renee Kahan, an Orthodox Jewish woman who says she was vaccinated as a kid, but was recently tested again and didn't have immunity.

Health officials say only 73 percent of kids in the county are vaccinated, an extremely low rate for a virus like measles, for which experts recommend that a community have at least 90 percent. The measles outbreak in Rockland County, which has infected at least 155 people since October but not killed anyone, has mostly occurred within the Orthodox Jewish community, though the county has applied its ban throughout the entire county.

A group of parents of unvaccinated kids at a private school are suing for their children to be able to return to class.

"The county has taken our children as hostages to force us against the law to vaccinate," said one parent, who would only allow his first name Paul to protect his child's identity.