The
New York Times in an article posted yesterday reports on the ways in which the anti-vaccination movement, particularly an organization known as Parents Educating and Advocating for Children's Health ("Peach"), is targeting ultra-Orthodox Jews in New York:
Peach’s handbook — with letters signed by rabbis and sections like “Halachic Points of Interest” — has become one of the main vehicles for misinformation among ultra-Orthodox groups, including Hasidim. Its message is being shared on hotlines and in group text messages.....
The majority of ultra-Orthodox rabbis said they ... urged vaccination, citing religious scripture about protecting one’s health and the health of others.
But all of that has not been enough to persuade vaccine skeptics....
Some Hasidim have said that longstanding tension between members of the ultra-Orthodox community and the government have made them wary of officials’ efforts to contain the outbreak.
The past persecution of the Jewish people is still a factor, they said. And more recently, quarrels with secular leaders over a circumcision ritual that has transmitted fatal herpes infections to infants and the government’s oversight of ultra-Orthodox Jewish private schools known as yeshivas have only soured relations.
