New York Parents Allegedly Held 'Measles Parties,' Leading to Massive Outbreak

New York parents allegedly held 'measles parties,' which lead to a massive outbreak of the [...]

New York parents allegedly held "measles parties," which lead to a massive outbreak of the illness.

According to the Daily Mail, city officials have warned the public that parents have been holding get togethers where they "intentionally expose their unvaccinated children to an infected child."

The purpose of this is because they believe it helps the kids build an immunity to the illness naturally rather than means of vaccination, with they reportedly believe to be unsafe or against their religion.

"I understand that parents may be afraid of getting their children vaccinated," New York City health commissioner Oxiris Barbot said in a statement. "I know that getting vaccinated is far safer than getting measles."

Following the NYC outbreak, Mayor Bill de Blasio has issued a rule that anyone who has unvaccinated children has 48 hours to get them vaccinations or they will be fined $1000.

"For instance, if a parent has three children and one of them gets the measles, exposing the other two, the fine would be $3,000." Barbot explained. "The public health order requires everyone living in the zip codes of 11205, 11206, 11211, and 11249 to get vaccinated within the next 48 hours."

"This is about one neighborhood and tracing folks that have been exposed," de Blasio added. "You literally need to track down every single person that person came in contact with."

"Measles is a dangerous, potentially deadly disease that can easily be prevented with vaccine," Dr. Herminia Palacio, deputy mayor for Health and Human Services offered as well.

According to the CDC, "Measles was declared eliminated (absence of continuous disease transmission for greater than 12 months) from the United States in 2000. This was thanks to a highly effective vaccination program in the United States, as well as better measles control in the Americas region."

However, with the declining vaccinations rates over the last several years, the illness has made a tragic re-emergence.

0comments