Following a Measles Outbreak, Israeli Parliament Pushes Forward Anti-Anti-Vaxxing Bills

Against a backdrop of over 1,800 cases of Measles recorded in Israel since March, the country’s parliament voted on Wednesday overwhelmingly in favor of two anti-anti-vaxxing bills. The first bill proposes that parents who deliberately choose not to vaccinate their children will be stripped of tax benefits worth up to NIS 2,000 ($535). The second bill proposes that during a nationwide outbreak, unvaccinated students and teachers could be banned from educational institutions.

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Exceptions are proposed for those whose health prevents them from receiving vaccinations. Both bills still require further parliamentary approvals to be written into law.

The measles epidemic is especially rampant in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox community, officials from the Israeli Health Ministry said. Earlier this month an unvaccinated 18 months old died of measles in Jerusalem.  

The outbreak in Israel has led to an outbreak in Rockland County in New York. In multiple official announcements, New York State’s Department of Health said an outbreak in the Haredi Jewish community in the county originated with travelers returning from Israel. Approximately 92,000 Jews live in Rockland County, making up about one-third of the county’s population.

According to the Rockland County Department of Health’s website, as of Wednesday, there are 76 confirmed cases of Measles in the county. On November 9, the county put in place school exclusions, meaning that any school with less than an 80% measles, mumps and rubella vaccination rate within the area affected by the outbreak will be required to keep unvaccinated students home. The county is also offering free vaccines and has opened up vaccine clinics to combat the outbreak.

"We must do everything in our power to prevent illness and death caused by the irresponsible decisions of parents," Israeli parliament member Merav Ben-Ari said in a statement on Wednesday. Representing the Israeli center Kulanu party, Ben-Ari is a signatory of one of the bills.

"When an unvaccinated children come to kindergarten or school, there is a concern that they may infect even vaccinated children," she said. Last week, a twice-vaccinated doctor working at a health clinic in Bnei Brak, a predominantly Haredi town east of Tel Aviv, caught the virus. In response, the clinic called on patrons who were in contact with the physician to get vaccinated.

At least one Israeli teachers’ labor union opposes the bill that would see unvaccinated students and teachers banned, claiming that responsibility should not be placed on the shoulders of school and kindergarten staff. Israel’s Teachers’ Union “will not hesitate to use” all the means it has to oppose the bill, the union’s secretary-general Yaffa Ben-David said in a statement.