“Frankly, it is dangerous and of great concern to our Department of Health,” said a New York county official.
A charity focused on Jewish mothers has been spreading anti-vaccine propaganda, pushing narratives of damaged children and broken religious laws in New York neighborhoods that are now the epicenter of the worst measles outbreak in almost two decades.
And New York City's Health Commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, said at a news conference Tuesday that the outbreak “is being fueled by a small group of anti-vaxxers in these neighborhoods. They have been spreading dangerous misinformation based on fake science.” when in reality, vaccines are a tiny sliver of the pharmaceutical industry's profits, and individual doctors can lose money on administering vaccines.Then there's the anonymous testimonials, apparently offered by other Jewish moms — terrifying stories that are difficult to verify, but apparently endorsed by a neighbor. They offer the kind of appeal that causes fake news to spread on Facebook or urban legends to travel by word of mouth.
“We’re concerned that with Passover coming up, people are going to gather, they’re going to be celebrating with their family, they’re going to be sharing food, sharing close quarters,” Marcy Miranda, a spokeswoman for the city’s public health department, told BuzzFeed News. “And because measles is a really, really highly contagious disease, we want to make sure people are safe.”
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