The Anti-Vaccination Disgrace

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By Rabbi Aaron E. Glatt, MD

There is a small, yet very vocal and influential group of “anti-vaxxers” living in our heimishe communities. They should stop reading now, as they will not like what I have to say, will not listen to what I have to say, and will write personal non-scientific scathing diatribes against me. However, I hope the rest of Klal Yisroel keeps on reading this critically important pikuah nefashos article, which the Yerushalmi essentially states is a primary chiyuv of a rav to darshen.

“Measles Outbreak in New York City in the Orthodox Jewish Community” was the title of a letter sent last week by the Department of Health to physicians across the state. Unfortunately, this is only the latest such tragic headline among numerous similar and preventable outbreaks in recent months and years, in our communities, in the U.S., Eretz Yisroel and Europe. I was truly saddened, embarrassed and pained.

Almost all the cases of measles are directly related to someone (or many people) being unvaccinated and spreading their illness and ignorance to others. I am very sorry if that offends anyone, but my vaccinated, 2-year-old granddaughter just had to get an urgent premature second dose of MMR vaccine after being exposed in “gan” in Israel; her 5-month old brother, too young to be vaccinated, had to get a painful gamma globulin shot, because of such incorrect and dangerous medical views. Hashem yeracheim.

There is absolutely no one who disagrees with the psak that a parent is required to remove one’s child to safety when a danger is present. Indeed, this is part of the basis for the halachic ruling of HaRav Elyashiv zt”l, who viewed normal childhood vaccinations as being an obligatory part of parental obligations.

HaRav Asher Weiss, shlita, poseik for Shaare Zedek Hospital, says it is a mitzvah and chiyuv to get vaccinated, bringing a proof from the story of Sodom from this week’s Parsha. He further states that yeshivas have the right and even obligation to protect other students, and should not allow unvaccinated children into school. This is also the written psak of HaRav Yitzchok Zilberstein, shlita as well as the psak of HaRav Elyashiv, who ruled that parents have the right to have unvaccinated children excluded from class so as not to cause unnecessary risks for their children.

Many other gedolei Yisroel, including HaRav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l, HaRav Yehoshua Newirth, zt”l, and yibadeil bein chayim lechayim, HaRav J. David Bleich, HaRav Reuven Feinstein, HaRav Hershel Schachter and HaRav Mordechai Willig, shlita, have all ruled that there is no basis in halacha to suggest that vaccinations should be avoided. All strongly urge and support appropriate universal vaccination against the major childhood potentially fatal illness that are preventable.

Indeed, it is sheker (dishonest) to officially avow that Jewish law forbids vaccination, which is the only way in some states to avoid mandatory state vaccination laws by providing such a false attestation about our religion.

So why all the headlines, anguish and outbreaks among the “People of the Book?” Why did 180 children, 80 percent of whom were unvaccinated, die in the United States during 2017/2018 from flu, along with 80,000 adults? Why do yeshivas and camps have to close  and stop learning because of mumps outbreaks? Why were six babies hospitalized with measles in the past month at Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv? Are we living in the 1950s?

In my humble opinion, as a community rav and board certified infectious diseases physician expert, it is because we somehow have forgotten to read the word of Hashem. Halacha states that if there is a dispute regarding whether a patient should eat on Yom Kippur, or if Shabbos desecration is necessary to save a life, the most competent and/or the majority of experts make the determination.

Regarding vaccination against the major vaccine preventable illnesses, both determinants (expertise and majority) are the same. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, all 50 state Departments of Health in the United States, the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society, the American College of Physicians, and every other major professional infection control organization in the world, clearly opine unanimously. Bar none – “leis man depalig” – there is no mumcheh (expert) organization that disagrees. The evidence is overwhelming that vaccination is the only way to control these preventable fatal diseases. Chasdei Hashem – no one dies anymore of smallpox; polio is almost wiped out – solely, and only because of very successful vaccination programs. Rachmana leztlan, why should anyone in 5779 die from measles???

Why are people not following these medical experts as halacha requires? Why are my (and your) precious children and grandchildren unnecessarily exposed to lethal illnesses, forced to take painful and additional medications and shots, because non-experts “believe” otherwise.

Imagine if parents were to insist their child come to school armed with a revolver. Would even the most ardent gun rights activist insist this is right? So why are we letting children come to our shuls, schools and camps spreading serious potentially life threatening illness that could have been prevented by vaccination?

All the major rabbinic organizations have rightly and strongly spoken out against physician assisted death; I myself also recently published on this subject. Therefore, I feel compelled to publicly speak out (again) against “non-vaccination assisted death”, a cause which unfortunately does not get enough similar support. Please ask your Rav to speak about this on Shabbos – it is a matter of pikuach nefashos.

Rabbi Aaron Glatt, MD, FACP, FIDSA, FSHEA, is Chairman of Department of Medicine, Chief Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiologist at South Nassau Communities Hospital; Clinical Professor of Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Assistant Rabbi, Young Israel of Woodmere. 


96 COMMENTS

  1. I am not an anti-vaxxer. My children and grandchildren all have received their vaccinations. Nonetheless:
    1) Dr. Abraham Twersky wrote in his advice column, having been asked a question pertaining to ones ruchniyus, that he feels ill-qualified – the scion of a great Rabbinic Dynasty, a Rav himself feels ill-qualified – to advise regarding spiritual matters because he has leaned, been exposed to, secular thought through his professional training and practice. Vivhameivin yovin.
    2) An article in a secular paper pointing to an outbreak of measles in the Orthodox community is no proof that the same number of cases (per-capita) are not to found in any other community throughout the USA and beyond. Do you think those cases are also linked to travel to Israel, or perhaps we would be able to find a link to another country or no real relationship at all. Halachah, Eisav sonei es Yaakov. Vi’hameivin yovin.
    3) Schools cannot be faced with threat of closure through the mass exodus of parents to another Yeshiva or Beis Yaakov or, worse, to a public school because their school permits students who were not vaccinated to attend.
    4) Why does the author not, at least, mention poskim who have ruled differently?They do exist. They are knowledgeable of the subject. They do not make decisions based on hearsay even if from a reliable / related source. And they are respected as great leaders and deciders of halachah.

  2. Measles is not a lethal or dangerous disease in healthy children.
    measles occurs every 4 years. it is a cyclical illness which comes whether or not children are vaccinated. children can and do contract measles despite vaccination.
    please don’t blame this outbreak on non vaxxers
    there are plenty of rabbonim who do not agree with the above psak
    the flu shot is not very effective at all and plenty of the deaths from flu were in people who WERE vaccinated.
    “polio was wiped out solely because of vaccination” how can you prove that?
    there are a lot of diseases that have been wiped out without vaccination.

    the one piece you have failed to address is the side effects from vaccination. i am sorry but you cannot unequivocally say that there is no tzad not vaccinate
    side effects are real and true and unfortunately for some people it is far more dangerous to vaccinate than not to
    and finally Rav Chaim Kanievsky has ruled that you cannot keep a child out of school who is not vaccinated.

    • Speaking as a physician:

      This is very wrong and very dangerous
      Measles kills, and it is preventable
      We used to get it regularly, and people (usually children and the elderly) DID die from it
      We now have preventable measures and must take every opportunity we have to enforce this at the community level

      Further, this outbreak is very easily established to be related to increasing non-vaccinating parents
      The more people vaccinate, the less of a “foothold” the virus can get in a community and spread to those who are unable to get the vaccine. Please research “herd immunity” to better understand this concept

      (“measles occurs every 4 years” – what? Just.. no)

      This is equally true in regards to the flu vaccine which is formulated to cover a few specific and particularly dangerous strains that are predicted to be dominant in the coming year. This does not mean you won’t contract a different strain but it decreases your likeliness, and helps protect the community

    • Debbie, your information re: measles is just wrong, maybe because you are too young to have lived through a real measles epidemic. I had them at five, ran a very high fever, and almost died. Several children in my area did die and many more were left with permanent brain damage. Measles also sets the immune system back to zero; I had nearly every common childhood disease at least twice, chickenpox three times, and was constantly ill for years afterward. Prior to the measles, I was a healthy child. Afterwards, I was not.

      Here’s a link to an article for laypeople that summarizes the current research.

      https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27481-measles-leaves-you-vulnerable-to-a-host-of-deadly-diseases/

    • So much of what you say, is simply not true. Measles is not a cyclical disease. I, like Dr. Gamss, am old enough to have gotten measles. It was very unpleasant and very frightening to my mother. She didn’t let me read or have bright light in my room, as children can be blinded by measles. My mother also knew about the risk of birth defects from German measles (Rubela) and made sure I got them before I started school–she brought me to a friend’s house who had them and had her breathe on me. My mother would be 97 and she knew the devastation of these diseases and the blessing of vaccines.

  3. Rabbi Dr. Glatt LOY”T:
    Yasher Kochachem.
    Where — on the Internet — can we find the most reliable information re. which vaccines are most appropriate for each age group? Thank you.

    • Why not start with your pediatrician, who spent 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school and AT LEAST 3 years of fellowship traning/residency, instead of Doctor Internet?

      • Re poshut guy. if you read the information on the dangers of vaccines just in the talkbacks on this article you will know more then the doctors who went to 12 years of school and learned almost nothing about the content, the adverse reactions and dangers of vaccines. Here are a few honest doctors saying what they learnt in medical school, FYI those schools are funded by big Pharma to push their drugs and vaccines.
        https://youtu.be/4Rp9YNMNlxQ

  4. Nearly all kids before the 1970s got measles. It was very, very common then. Honest scientists (many of whom were murdered for this revelation) have proven that there’s an undeniable connection between vaccination and autism.

    Science News July 2, 2018 : “The Supreme Court ruled vaccines are “unavoidably unsafe” in 2016 – What has changed since? Nothing.”

    “Autism Rates in California Schools Jumped As Much as 17% Among Kindergartners Since Mandatory Vaccine Bill Was Signed” by Yelena Sukhoterina | August 24, 2016

  5. Oy. Stooooppp already. So many of these articles. Enough. Nobody is going to change their mind about shots or be influenced because of these articles. Bottom line is that while yes it is overwhelming the information on pro shots, there is valid information – including leading Drs, Daas Poskim and Gedolay Yisroel (just this author won’t mention them) who are ok with no shots.

    More people die because of texting and driving but let’s focus on shots because why not.

    Scientist have “proof” the world is older the 5779 years. Do we listen to them on that?
    Our government decided that you can choose if you want to identify as a man or a lady. Do we think that’s normal?

    Yes shots are important and you should give them to your children. Just enough of the hysteria. We cancel carnivals, we write articles yelling and screaming, we use scare tactics, we threaten kids and parents, we alienate people who don’t believe in shots – but we also text when we drive so we are hypocrites. And please don’t say 2 wrongs don’t make a right. Just be real. If it bothers you then deal with it. Just don’t push your liberal agenda on me.

        • Eliezer S. – When was the last time you were vaccinated for measles or the 72 other vaccines??? According to the vaccine manufacturer it is only good for 10 to 20 years tops. This means that you your wife are just as unvaccinated as all the kids you want to vaccinated.
          so unless you get 72 vaccines like all other kids do according to the CDC recommendation, you stay away from your kids and people , because you can get them sick and you are a rodef according to your own false logic.
          https://youtu.be/nugXXqsFEJQ

    • You know what is changing people’s minds? Having outbreaks of measles because they refused to listen to the majority of experts and doctors, articles such as these, and facts such as mathematical statistics. The increase in vaccinations among anti-vaxxers is shooting up in Jerusalem and other areas hit hard. Sadly, it is too late for some.
      If you don’t care for these articles, don’t click on them.

  6. So there you have it. Now I’m convinced. Once my family & I get my vaccinations I’ll be able to sleep comfortably at night. I’m calling right now to make an appointment. Now my kids will be able to enjoy the Chal Hamoed carnival again. Now I no longer have to worry about my kids classmates who are stupid enough not to get their shots. My kids will be protected. In the meantime I’ll keep drinking and smoking.

  7. Thank you, Rabbi Glatt.
    You won’t change the minds of hard-core anti-vaxxers and you won’t stop the trolls from deliberately spreading dangerous falsehoods. What you (and Dr. Roberts and other concerned MDs in our community) hopefully will do is shine the bright light of truth on the pseudoscientific lies and distortions that may have people who don’t know better questioning the efficacy of modern medicine and specifically vaccinations.

    Those who don’t vaccinate their children because they honestly believe it’s safer than vaccinating them are dangerously wrong. And those who deliberately and knowingly spread lies to sow confusion are willful would-be murderers.

    • how do you know they are dangerously wrong?? have you done any research yourself? or are you basing your opinion on “the doctors” “the scientists” etc ???
      maybe they are right
      it is a possibility you know

      • But Debbie,

        I don’t understand. Dr. Glatt wrote, and he’s right, that we make halachic decisions about breaking Shabbos based on the majority of the doctors. That’s the simple halacha; it’s in Shulchan Aruch Hilchos Shabbos 328. You don’t need to do research more than asking your doctors. What research did YOU do, and why do you think you know better than the majority of doctors?

        • mY frum Dr said I can fast on Tish Bav after I had a life threatening issue and was hospitalized. My rav told me NOT to fast. I believe my rav knew better than the dr.

          • Wrong Conclusion! The Dr was saying that medically, you *can* fast, ie. it’s not thought to be a direct danger to you. Your Rav paskened that even if it’s not a direct medical danger, because you were recently sick and hospitalized, you *need not* fast according to Halacha. Two Different Questions, Two Different Answers. The Rav takes the Dr’s medical opinion along with the rest of the facts of the situation and issues a Halachic psak.

            And the proof — pregnant women do not (usually) fast Taanis Esther. They do fast on Yom Kippur. If they’d ask their Dr, he would say they *can* fast. For YomKippur, the Rav will say, *do* fast. For Taanis Esther, the same Rav will say *do not* fast. Does the Rav know better than the Doctor? Ridiculous. The doctor was answering one question (Medically, can I safely fast?). The Rav was answering another (Halachically, should I fast?). B”H your Dr and Rav seem smart enough to each speak about their own expertise, without knocking the other. Feel better!

    • Does the willful murdering of innocent helpless babies, under the guise of ” A parents right to choose” bother you as much as this? Your calling of those that educate those about the harmful side effects of taking such shots, “willful would-be murderers” is highly hypocritical and disingenuous.

    • To Anonymous at 10:42am

      LOL. Your comment is awesome. I feel bad I don’t know who you are since you are clearly an authority on this issue and certainly did your own medical research to prove without a shadow of a doubt (as you say) the non vaxers are dangerously wrong. Yoish, Im so scared now. I didn’t ever realize that anti vaxers are dangerous people who dangerous things.

      Let’s start a trend now. Starting today, because we cannot take such serious matters lightly anymore, it has to become mandatory that all shidduchim resumes come with an attached medical form so the families doing research can be sure they are not being fooled into thinking they might be Meshadech with an anti vaxer

      Stop the mass hysteria.

      Are shots a good thing – it seems yes. If you don’t give shots are your kids a walking time bomb and deathly contagious? No.

      • “Starting today, because we cannot take such serious matters lightly anymore, it has to become mandatory that all shidduchim resumes come with an attached medical form so the families doing research can be sure they are not being fooled into thinking they might be Meshadech with an anti vaxer”
        Despite your silly attempt at sarcasm you accidentally raise a valid point. Do you honestly believe that it makes sense for people to factor in health risk when someone who’s a smoker is suggested as a shidduch, yet to ignore potential danger to family members, including grandchildren, caused by one who refuses to vaccinate?

        • Anonymous , That’s an excellent idea to say if you are pro or against vaccines in a shidduch resume. This way the pro safe vaccines or what you might call anti toxic vaccines will have nice and healthy kids with virtually zero rate of autistic kids, or chronic and mental illnesses.

          This has been proven by Dr. EIsenstein in Chicago who had over 35,000 children in his pediatric practice for over 35 years most of whom or not vaccinated as per his informed intelligent and sane advice. He and his staff testify that of the children who are not vaccinated they have NEVER seen even one case of autism.

          All of you pro vaxers can take your chance and and have children at a 1 out of 50 autistic kids rate.

  8. In order to scientifically determine the safety profile of a drug, you need to compare a control group that receives an inert placebo to an experimental group that receives the substance you wish to evaluate. There has never been a comprehensive, large scale, long term, safety study comparing all health outcomes between a fully unvaccinated population and a vaccinated population, not in one vaccine and certainly not in the myriad of vaccines that have been pushed since the 1986 vaccine injury compensation act which removed product liability from vaccine manufacturers.
    Not only is the science not “settled”, it has never been done.
    The epidemic and exponential rise of Neurodevelopmental disorders, Psychiatric disorders, Autoimmune disorders, Infertility, and Cancer, in our community, and in the greater society is undeniable. A small group of courageous scientists and researchers around the world have questioned the dogmatic assumption that vaccines are safe and they have found that it is indeed a dogmatic belief not based on empirical evidence. Additionally government regulatory agencies have been shown to have falsified and covered up epidemiological data which indicate safety problems. As such any Psak which relied on these false scientific assumptions is inherently null and void. This is not a Halachik issue. It should be a scientific and public policy debate. Unfortunately when attempts have been made including this past month, to get pro vaccine scientists to debate anti vaccine scientists in a civil discourse, the pro vaccine side refuses to defend its position or even partake in a discussion. Dr Brian Hooker has offered to debate the issue in a civil manner without ad-hominem attacks. Will you Rabbi Dr Glatt agree to such a public debate? If yes I will be happy to help arrange it. If not please explain why.

    • Scientific conclusions r not established by debate but by peer review! Neither has there been a comprehensive, large-scale, long term study that has definitively determined CAUSATION of autism from vaccines.

      • No Yosef, the conclusions are made from the doing the actual experiment. Then you try to get it published for peer review and replication of results by other scientists to confirm the outcome of the experiment. Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s case study of 12 children with chronic enterocolitis and regressive developmental disorder was not an experiment. It was simply reporting some intriguing findings and suggesting the need for further investigation. His findings have since been replicated in other studies by other researchers. The CDC epidemiological study headed by Dr William Thompson also demonstrated an increase in Autism linked to MMR until they cooked the books and falsified the data as per Dr Thompson. I don’t understand how anyone in the medical profession can pretend to not be aware of the scandal surrounding vaccine safety science at the CDC that was exposed by whistleblower Dr William Thompson. It may be that medical professionals are so heavily invested in their preconceived, dogmatic, beliefs that they are simply incapable of confronting the notion that their beliefs may well be completely wrong. It is not fair to vilify people who choose not to vaccinate,especially when the rigorous safety science to support the current public policy has not been done.

        • This is a lie. Wakefield’s study was fraudulent. And he is not “Dr.” as he lost his medical license as the result of the fraud. Massive amounts of money have been wasted in debunking this fraud — there never WAS any evidence that vaccines cause autism.

          And there is another problem here: Even if vaccines DID cause autism, measles causes DEATH. Anti-vaxxers are saying that it is better to have a dead child than an autistic child. This is little better than support for euthanasia!

    • Dr Glatt will not do a live debate. The Torah says Shtika Kehodaa. This means he can not support his pro pharama toxic vaccine claims against anyone with really knowlage on the damage it causes. People like Dr Larry Palevsky and others. Untill he is willing to do a debate I see no reason to listen to him.

      Around 1 pearson a year dies from measles in the USA each year for the past decade. See historic data here.
      https://vaxopedia.org/2018/04/15/when-was-the-last-measles-death-in-the-united-states/amp/?fbclid=IwAR3BikBtlf_8TGj2dPl45V5D3MJJAOKyBHAXl6ora-TF-eaQUyR5ex3nVeI

      Compare that to over 40 dying from the MMR as reported to the gov VAERS system every year!
      This make the vaccine 40x’s more fatal.
      VAERS reporting. Plus THOUSANDS of reported injuries from MMR.
      https://www.nvic.org/vaccines-and-diseases/measles/measles-vaccine-injury-death.aspx

  9. the article mentions names of Rabbanim who lived years ago. The reality is that doses of vaccinations on children have gone up astronomically since then. Even those who are “po vaccine” would be horrified to see the real numbers of doses being given today.
    Between 1970-1980 there were 23 doses of 7 vaccines given
    By 2017- there are 69 doses of 16 vaccines being given
    (stated by Sherri Tempenny D.O) medical graduate of talks about the big ramp up in 1991
    Some of the names of ranbbanim listed in this article would pasken differently if they would know about the ever growing doses.
    Even if one believes that vaccines are a Chochma and can prevent disease, the doses are downright criminal. (The CDC is currently working on 300 vaccines.)
    To me this article proves how ignorant we are regarding vaccines beginning with the doses.
    We have gotten past fake news, but we seem to inhale all the fake science.

    • Yes, there are more vaccines. However, there are ways to vaccinate and minimize this problem. My daughter, and her pediatrician, are vaccinating my grandchild on an extended schedule. She gets two vaccines a visit and the visits are a month apart. There are more vaccines, because more are developed against serious diseases. I developed asthma after contracting the Hib virus. It has plagued me for the last 30 years. When the vaccine for it was developed I most certainly had my daughter get it. There are now vaccines for some kinds of meningitis, a terrible killer of children and young adults. There are ways to manage what is a legitimate issue and still protect our children.

  10. Of all the hateful comments, not ONE has responded to the FACT (as anyone who has delved into the sugya knows) that numerous Rabbanim, Gedolim AND yes, even doctors do not agree with the lettet writer. R’ Chaim Kanievsky gave a clear Psak that a school can NOT force parents to vaccinate, as one commenter already mentioned.
    So to write a letter and ignore the other side of the coin is plain dishonesty.

  11. Natural News, one of the sites that Google doesn’t want you to visit has great articles on this subject. Here are some:

    – The 9 most SHOCKING vaccine ingredients of 2018 (July 31, 2018)
    – Stunning finding reveals autism is highest in areas with the highest vaccination rates (Apr 30, 2018)
    – If you’re convinced vaccines are safe, you’re not well informed… here’s the information being withheld from you (Jan 15, 2018)

  12. The foolish, conspiracy theorist, shaky “ science “ quoting anti-vaccers hurt their OWN cause by arguing baseless, fairy tail emotional arguments- sometimes even out and out LIES, instead rationally, and calmly presenting possible negatives or drawbacks of vaccines which may be real or true , and still don’t come within a hundred miles of outweighing the many more benefits that YES vaccinating offer.

    • Benefits, shmenefits, nobody wants their 2-year-old healthy child to turn into a zomby or become autistic or suddenly get seizures or brain swelling or some neurological disorders after receiving vaccination.

      What makes your “science” less shaky than real science aka conspiracy science? There’s plenty of proof of the dangers of vaccination. Get your head out of the sand and stop trusting fake news and big pharma propaganda.

        • But when they get the gantze velt to vaccinate, and now they’ve even recommended pregnant women get vaccinated when there are NO safety studies on this – they get billions of dollars in profits. And they sink so low as to send bad lots of vaccines to third world countries. There is a TON of peer-reviewed studies and information from the CDC and FDA themselves that show problems with vaccines. The vaccine manufacturers met with CDC (illegal meeting, if I recall correctly) at Simpsonwood, years ago, to develop a strategy to hid the truth. this is a matter of record. That people want to fear monger about illnesses that with all due respect to the doctor who said otherwise, are generally harmless in US and Israel and other developed countries, is something they will have to answer to Hashem for. G-d save the Heshy Tens and the Dr. Glatts of the world for pushing people into injecting hazardous waste material (in the form of mercury and thimerisol) and aluminum into our precious babies, contributing to and possibly causing a medical holocaust of chronic illness. If you choose to vaccinate, fine. Do it safely. But if you choose not to, that decision should be respected. The fear of unvaccinated kids is very unfounded.

        • But when they get the gantze velt to vaccinate, and now they’ve even recommended pregnant women get vaccinated when there are NO safety studies on this – they get billions of dollars in profits. And they sink so low as to send bad lots of vaccines to third world countries. There is a TON of peer-reviewed studies and information from the CDC and FDA themselves that show problems with vaccines. The vaccine manufacturers met with CDC (illegal meeting, if I recall correctly) at Simpsonwood, years ago, to develop a strategy to hid the truth. this is a matter of record. That people want to fear monger about illnesses that with all due respect to the doctor who said otherwise, are generally harmless in US and Israel and other developed countries, is something they will have to answer to Hashem for. G-d save the Heshy Tens and the Dr. Glatts of the world for pushing people into injecting hazardous waste material (in the form of mercury and thimerisol) and aluminum into our precious babies, contributing to and possibly causing a medical holocaust of chronic illness. If you choose to vaccinate, fine. Do it safely. But if you choose not to, that decision should be respected. And Rabbi Kanievsky has paskened not to exclude non vaccinated children; that if you don’t want to be around them, take your kids out yourselves. The fear of unvaccinated kids is very unfounded.

        • The most contagious disease to humans is NOT the measles but the common cold.
          If one chooses to vaccinate then there should be no uproar in being around someone who is not vaccinated — if one risked the assault on their immune system to be protected, there should be no worry if exposed, right?
          Read the vaccine insert. Every time another vaccine, add the % of the adjuvants like
          aluminum, embalming fluid, mercury and etc. and then go look at the EPA listing of safe limits for this ingredient and by the CDC schedule every child by age 10 has exceeded safe limits in many of them. When I was a child there were 9 vaccines and now there are 69 — each one assaults the immune system as it must to be effective. There is no recovery time between these doses. And why would we vaccinate a child before they have even had time to develop a healthy immune system to process the toxins in a vaccine? Why is there a vaccine injury court that has paid out billions of dollars, info. left out of most media coverage and articles like this — an issue for risk and benefit assessment. And the vaccine industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that runs on a business modality, profit and one of it’s biggest customers is the CDC itself which means the CDC has vested interest and than is money.

      • Big pharma would love to have people get diseases that they could treat with drugs. Vaccines are pretty cheap, especially the ones for kids, and they prevent illness. Now how does that benefit big pharma?

  13. Not one mention of the side effects which the government itself has claimed is “unavoidably unsafe”.
    Not one mention the hundred of millions of dollars that the vaccine courts have doled out for injury.
    Interesting how measles was always treated like chicken pox (yes, people died from chicken pox) all the years until the vaccine came out. Now the world is over if someone gets the measles.
    I have yet to see ONE person honest enough to write, “yes, vaccines are dangerous but the diseases are more dangerous!”. Even if someone decides to vaccinate (and i’m not neccessarily against), he should daven extra hard that day that no ill befalls his child because his kavana was leshem shomayim. Alternatively, to malign everyone else who disagrees is a disgrace. How much more so to ban them from carnivals which have since closed down (possibly due to a midah keneged midah). Wishing everyone good health in any way they decide.

  14. just look at the above comments. The commenters who are arguing in favor of vaccines usually resort to name calling and weak arguments such as… it is clear that … The ones arguing the case against vaccines usually quote numbers, websites or ingredients.
    It is not surprising that in the Journal of Pediactrics, it was stated that the parents most hesitant in reference to vaccines are the ones that make over 70,000 annually.

    The “Associations” and “organizations” quoted in the above article are about as credible as Hillary Clinton, Maxine Watters, Chuck Shummer and the democratic “organization”.
    And the rabbonim above are paskening based on the “science” that these organizations are feeding us.

        • Right. It causes encephalitis (brain swelling) and other physical problems that manifest as autism.

          How many moms need to tell the same story before you consider the possibility that they are actually telling the truth?!

        • Actually, the CDC itself studied this and knows that autism IS a side effect. However, at Simpsonwood, they made a plan to hide this evidence. And for those who think that Wakefied proposed the connection and was debunked, I’m afraid you are only retorting what others say and not what is true. Wakefield never said autism is caused by MMR. He suggested that the issue be studied. He and a bunch of other scientists who interestingly were not discredited. Whatever he lost is license for was not this. I have a long file detailing what happened. This discreditation is like lashon Hara – the story gets twisted and turned into untruth.

          And then, tell the unfortunate moms whose kids got 9 vaccines at once, or got the MMR, whose perfectly healthy until then kid regressed almost immediately into autistic behavior and autism that MMR or vaccines in general don’t cause autism. They know otherwise. You who think not are just the lucky ones whose kids didn’t have a bad reaction. And believe me, autism isn’t the only reaction. I’ve heard story after story after story from Frum families about their kids’ reactions, including one of my own children, whose son started head banging immediately after a vaccination.

          I’d like to hear that vaccines are safe and don’t cause autism or other issues from someone whose child was damaged from vaccines. Anyone?

  15. Kvar hura zakein. Rav Elyashiv did say to get shots, if your rav argues, than follow him. If he doesn’t, then nothing else matters except for daas Torah. Hakol bidei shomayim. We can sleep peacefully knowing we followed the psak of the gadol hador. The rest is bidei shomayim.
    Panic, machlokes, terror, are all the work of the satan and show a lack of emunah in Hashem and the gedolim.

  16. Wow this article is fear mongering at its best. It may be worthwhile to actually research what measles was like before the vaccine came out. Nobody feared the measles, in fact, people wanted their children to get it and would intentionally expose their kids to other children already infected so they can get the illness “over with” in childhood. The vaccine did not drastically reduce the number of deaths as you are led to believe, it only reduced the number of measles CASES. Anyone can look this up easily.

    Now in regards to crazy anti vaxxers who are all into hocus pocos and are anti science. I challenge any one of you to actually listen to what the other side has to say. Every single concern is based on facts and science. There many doctors, scientists, immunologists etc and many many scientific studies which tell a very different picture about vaccines than the one painted for you by the CDC and big pharma.

    One more thing, in regards to mandating vaccines and forcing medical procedures on people: let’s not forget nazi Germany and the resulting Nuremberg law, which stated that no medical procedure may be performed on someone without informed consent. If you take away a persons right to make medical decisions for themselves, you take away their freedom. Right now you seem very happy allowing the government to decide what is right for you and your children, which vaccines the government thinks is necessary and which they don’t. Be aware, this is a very slippery slope, because when the government decides that bris Milah is dangerous and ban it from taking place, you may not be so happy anymore that you gave the government the rights to you and your children’s bodies.

    • The article is not fear mongering it is accurate. Children died from measles. There is no treatment and no cure. It is the most contagious disease affecting humans.

      • no treatment and no cure?? The child should stay home nad rest and the measles is over in about a week.
        The common cold also has no treatment and no cure. It is very contagious as well.

        I wonder if you know of any disease that actually has a cure? The medical establishment only talks about treatemetn, no more cures.

    • This is so not true. My parents feared the measles. I was old enough to remember getting it and I had to stay in a dark room because my mother feared that I would have lesions behind my eyes and become blinded by light. You are right about German measles, now called rubella. It is a mild disease–unless you are pregnant, when it can cause birth defects, including deafness. That my mother made sure I got before I started school. Please get your diseases straight.

  17. Six leading scientists from around the world are very concerned about the aluminum in vaccines. If you would like to read about this, please see this link:
    https://jbhandleyblog.com/home/a-lone-fda-scientist-could-end-the-autism-epidemic

    (It appears that the only study the medical profession relies on for safety of aluminum in vaccines is the Mitkus study – “….the only biological science Dr. Mitkus considered in making his safety assessment was a single study that infused (rather than injected) aluminum citrate (rather than aluminum hydroxide) into adults (rather than babies).” If there is anyone out there who knows of another study that shows aluminum is safe to be injected into babies in the amounts that is being done now accd to the CDC schedule, please post it on this website.

    I would also like to mention that I have read that doctors are not taught much about vaccines in medical school – basically they are just taught to follow the CDC schedule. If there are any doctors reading this, can you please tell us what you learned about vaccines while in medical school?

    In regard to the CDC, American Academy of Pediatrics, National Academy of Medicine, Every Child by Two, and VRBPAC – entities that either evaluate the safety of vaccines, recommend which vaccines should be on the schedule or promote vaccines – they are all full of conflict of interest as many of their members have financial ties to the vaccine manufacturers.

    For those who would like to hear from a pediatrician who takes a middle of the road stance on vaccines, here is an interview of Dr. Paul Thomas of Oregon. He raises some good points that are worth listening to. He has three sets of patients in his practice – those who vaccinate accd to the CDC schedule (about one in sixty patients have autism), those who do not vaccinate at all (no autistic patients, lower incidence of developmental delays), those who vaccinate accd to his alternative plan (no autistic patients, a bit higher incidence of developmental delays than previous group). (He is author of the Vaccine Friendly Plan book.)

    https://soundcloud.com/user-507883655/6-dr-paul-thomas-interview-how-to-end-the-autism-epidemic?fbclid=IwAR3jJrK7SlXeyTtEz61tyHaQzQaoOOupzTQPdSxXqRriInWRtVBrlNOWKxQ

  18. Just amazed by the anti vaxxers trust in a few unknown sources vs trusting the entire medical establishment who recommend vaccine (I guess they are not to be trusted for some reason? They are all bad, brainwashed?). What makes the antivaxxers so sure of themselves against the recommendations of all doctors. Spooky if you ask me. It is insane IMO to think that all doctors are part of a cover up or can’t be trusted. Really spooky how people can deceive themselves to such an extent. What happened to common sense?

  19. There is no need to refer to contemporary rabbis. Rav Sherira Gaon determined the halachah a thousand years ago — that we rely on doctors, not rabbis, for medical matters, for we do not and can not understand Chazal’s medicine and without that understanding contemporary rabbis have no basis on which to pasken any shilah on the subject — and no living rabbi is of the stature to rule contrary to Rav Sherira Gaon.

    Get your children vaccinated. It may save their lives and the lives of others.

    Measles and polio could be eliminated from the planet. We are close to doing that with polio but Muslim extremists are blocking vaccination campaigns in some Muslim areas in Asia and Africa. It is a chilul Hashem that some of us are buying into the same nonsense as the radical Islamists.

  20. for public safety matzav should not publish these antivax comments. all you are doing is giving a platform for these ideas that can lead to a contagious outbreak.
    if they want a platform let them post elsewhere.

    • RE Anonymous about Public Safety:
      You sound like Stalin, Or Joseph Goebbels let’s just cut off freedom of speech and dictate what people should think like to fake news.
      This type of thinking is what led the Jews to follow the Meraglim and create the golden calf all based on fear and not using your brain to think rationally.

      Many more people are damaged and killed from vaccines then the actual diseases that are designed to prevent. Over 40 people die from the MMR each year versus one from measles in the USA. That makes the vaccine 40 times more lethal and many many more times higher chance of chronic and mental illness for life such as autism.
      they are loaded with the worst toxins on the planet that do not belong in the human body.

      Joseph Goebbels said tell a lie long enough and people will start to believe it.
      One of the biggest lies is that vaccines eradicated smallpox and polio. when you look at the Historical and medical data it’s just the opposite these diseases were going down more than 50% before the vaccine was introduced, after they were introduced they went up substantially and eventually went down for other reasons like clean water better sanitation stopping the use of pesticides such as DDT Etc. And isolation. The truth is over here for people with a rational minds think for themselves.
      https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/01/18/history-vaccination.aspx

  21. Sweden Bans Mandatory Vaccinations Over ‘Serious Heath Concerns’
    April 12, 2018 s
    Sweden has banned mandatory vaccinations, citing “serious health concerns” and the fact they violate a citizen’s constitutional rights to choose their own healthcare.

    The Swedish Riksdag (parliament) rejected seven motions on May 10 that would have enshrined forced vaccinations into law, stating “It would violate our [Swedish Constitution] if we introduced compulsory vaccinations, or mandatory vaccinations.”

    Noting also the “massive resistance (by Swedes) to all forms of coercion with regard to vaccinations“, the Riksdag also made reference to “frequent serious adverse reactions” in children who receive vaccinations.

    An English translation of the Swedish report:

    “NHF Sweden sent a letter to the Committee and explained that it would violate our Constitution if we introduced compulsory vaccinations, or mandatory vaccinations as was submitted in Arkelsten’s motion. Many others have also submitted correspondence and many citizens have called up Parliament and politicians. Parliamentary politicians has surely noticed that there’s a massive resistance to all forms of coercion with regard to vaccinations.

    “NHF Sweden also shows how frequent serious adverse reactions according to the rate at which FASS specifies in the package leaflet of the MMR vaccine, when you vaccinate an entire year group. In addition, one must take into account that each age group will receive the MMR vaccine twice, so the side effects are doubled. We must not forget that, in addition, similar adverse reaction lists apply for other vaccines.

    “In the letter, we have even included an extensive list of the additives found in vaccines – substances which are not health foods and certainly do not belong in babies or children. We also included for lawmakers a daunting list of studies that demonstrate vaccination is a bad idea.”

    The full report can be accessed here.

    The Swedish Riksdag’s sensible decision flies in the face of what is happening in the United States and other western countries right now. Big Pharma has lawmakers in a choke hold, dictating policy and using the corrupt media to silence dissenters.

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently appeared on the Tucker Carlson Show and bravely exposed the “lawless mafia state” that is Big Pharma and their “extremely lucrative” vaccines scam.

    “The pharmaceutical industry is so powerful,” RFK Jr explained. “They give $5.4 billion a year to the media. They’ve gotten rid of the lawyers, so there is no legal interest in those cases. They have really been able to control the debate and silence people like me.”

    Asked how things could get this bad, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. explained that Congress granted Big Pharma “blanket legal immunity” when it comes to vaccines.

    Big Pharma became a law unto themselves after President Regan signed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. They can put toxic ingredients in your vaccines, they can seriously injure your child – but you cannot sue them.

    “What you have to understand is that the vaccine regimen changed dramatically around 1989. The reason it changed, Tucker, is that Congress, drowning in pharmaceutical industry money, did something they have never done for any other industry – they gave blanket legal immunity to all the vaccine companies.

    “So that no matter how sloppy the line protocols, no matter how absent the quality control, no matter how toxic the ingredients, or egregious the injury to your child, you cannot sue them.

    “So there’s no depositions, there’s no discovery, there’s no class action suits. All of a sudden vaccines became enormously profitable.”

    The enormous profits in the unregulated industry meant Big Pharma companies raced each other to produce new and unnecessary vaccines to pump into newborn children – often dozens at a time.

    “It became a gold rush for the pharmaceutical industry to add new vaccines to the spectrum.”

    But at what cost? The vaccine industry, operating under their own rules – or rather, complete absence of rules – is making it impossible for us to find out the facts. President Trump has long called for an independent inquiry into vaccine safety. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is calling for the same.

    “I got three vaccines and I was fully compliant. I’m 63 years old. My children got 69 doses of 16 vaccines to be compliant. And a lot of these vaccines aren’t even for communicable diseases. Like Hepatitis B, which comes from unprotected sex, or using or sharing needles – why do we give that to a child on the first day of their life? And it was loaded with mercury.”

    Tucker asked, “We do give that to children?“

    “We continue to give it to them. The mercury has been taken out of three vaccines, but it remains in the flu vaccine, and it is still in vaccines all over the world. And it is the most potent neurotoxin known to man that is not radioactive.”

    “How can we inject that into a child?”

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to put the outrageous situation into context.

    “If you take that vaccine vial and break it, you have to dispose of that as hazardous waste. You have to evacuate the building. Why would you take that and inject it into a child?”

  22. One has to admire anti-vaxxers for willingness of stand-up against the tsunami Flooding against them even as I am terrified of the potential effects

  23. Just a bit of irony
    whether right or wrong
    the same crowd that demonizes – an understatement,
    those who refuse to just herd like follow doctors are the same crowd often which belittle
    those who follow Scholars

    Still it does say” and heal he shall heal”

  24. I don’t get the issue! If you think that vaccines are unsafe, then don’t vaccinate and if you’re afraid of the diseases then get yourself and your child vaccinated!! If vaccines work then what do you care what anyone else decides to do???

  25. Dr Shimon Blau
    It behooves you as a professional to speak in more respectful tones. It is unbefitting for a doctor to resort to name calling. You’re welcome to explain some of your scientific knowledge instead of bashing people. It is interesting that most of the people that have chosen not to vaccinate are in the $70,000 and above income bracket. Maybe that does say something about those that are more highly educated.

    As a graduate student, I had once challenged my professor and the response was very enlightening. He said “as a medical student you would not have had the audacity to challenge your professors!”
    So much for independent thinking and proof that doctors just follow their professors. It’s that or else they wouldn’t be graduating.

    Some facts that may prove helpful to those that aren’t sure if vaccines are safe or not
    Mercury
    2 ppb is considered safe in drinking water
    200 ppb is hazardous waste
    50,000 ppb is in the flu and other shots with thimerosol
    20,000 ppb is “trace amounts”

    Aluminum- FDA allowable amount is 10-25mg
    Hep B (on first day of life) contains 250 mg
    DTaP (depending on manufacturer) 170-625 micrograms
    Pediarix combo 850 micrograms
    The new HPV vaccine has over 1,000 mg

    As Jews, we have never followed other religions. Why? As one of our leaders once said. “One only follows the crowd when he isn’t sure. When you’re sure, you don’t follow.”

  26. Freedom fighter, While it is important to respond in civil tones, in order to be heard, there is no need to be “respectful” toward anti-vaccination advocates, who endanger all our children. Respect implies that the other side has a valid argument, which they do not. This is not a case of “eilu ve’eilu.” Would you be respectful to a criminal?

    As for your contention that “most of the people that have chosen not to vaccinate are in the $70,000 and above income bracket” may I ask where you got that statistic? And you indicate that this income level is evidence of people who are “highly educated.” But certainly, you must admit, in the Jewish community anti-vaxxers tend to come from the more sheltered—that is the LEAST educated when it comes to science—side of the community.
    Next you tell a story about a professor that did not wish to be challenged. I’m sure your story is true. But that you think that means that there’s no “independent thinking” in the medical world means you simply haven’t been around enough doctors!

    Finally, you seem to be challenged by math. Your statistics on aluminum are quite simply incorrect, which means you either don’t know the difference between a microgram and a milligram—or you DO know the difference, and you mislead intentionally! A microgram is one-one THOUSANTH of a milligram (which is 1/1000 of a gram and is abbreviated as “mg”). The average adult consumes 7-9 milligrams of aluminum per day, as does the average breast-fed baby. Babies fed formula ingest far more.

    So when you wrote that HepB “(on first day of life) contains 250 mg” you meant to say 250 MICROGRAMS, which is one-quarter of a milligram. And when you wrote that “The new HPV vaccine has over 1,000 mg” you meant to say 1,000 MICROGRAMS or just one milligram. I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt that you’re simply ignorant of the facts and not that you intentionally lied. But either way, you pose a danger to society and our children.
    Additionally, it would behoove you to back up your “statistics” with a source. Mine is the famous Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s website. Here’s the link:
    https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-ingredients/aluminum

    Similarly, your information about mercury is a combination of misleading, outdated, and plain wrong. I will refer the interested reader to CHOP’s website and that of the FDA (of course, when you believe it’s all a conspiracy, these websites are spreading “misinformation” and can’t be trusted!):

    https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-ingredients/thimerosal
    https://www.fda.gov/biologicsbloodvaccines/safetyavailability/vaccinesafety/ucm096228

  27. I am not an anti-vaxer but an advocate for safe vaccines which right now is an oxymoron
    Stating that the measles outbreak was from the unvaccinated is false – it is being spread by the vaccinated to those
    in whom the immunity from their vaccination wore off after 7 years. It is much more serious for older people.
    http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/measles-transmitted-vaccinated-gov-researchers-confirm
    https://www.facebook.com/drjohnbergman/videos/1954626594593014/
    AND to Srullowtiz:
    It is no longer a controversy or debate but fact –Vaccines can and do cause autism. Info. not in the CDC literature but in a recent lawsuit filing that made it public information. From The Omnibus Autism Proceeding of the Vaccine Injury Court –https://childrenshealthdefense.org/child-health-topics/righting-wrongs/request-for-office-of-inspector-general-to-investigate-fraud-and-obstruction-of-justice/

  28. Srullowitz, it is disgraceful to think that we can only speak respectfully to other people that agree with us. If we have differing opinions, we also need to respect that. I assume that you’d expect that of others if the topic was religion

    Firstly, if you actually believe that vaccines work, then what’s all your sinas chinam and attitude about?? Your children are supposedly protected from unvaccinated children. So why are you afraid? Maybe because you don’t fully believe that vaccines work?

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3767928/
    Here is the link regarding $70,000 and above that tend to refuse vaccination

    Regarding the remark you made about the micrograms I discussed, let’s talk apples to apples. I’m discussing INJECTING aluminum and other adjuvants that make their way into the brain. I’m not talking about ingesting. How can you compare the two?

    Response to mercury. The numbers are correct even if you don’t want them to be.

    “Because of the lack of pharmacokinetic and toxicity data for ethylmercury, methylmercury has been used as a reference for ethylmercury toxicity based on the assumption that the two compounds share similar toxicokinetic profiles. However, a new animal study shows that methylmercury is an inadequate reference for ethylmercury due to significant differences in tissue distribution, clearance rates, and ratios of organic to inorganic mercury in the brain [EHP 113:1015–1021].”
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1280369/

  29. The notion that vaccines cause autism first gained popularity because a pornography model said so, and people decided to listen. It is, in fact, NOT a fact. The fact is that vaccines don’t cause autism. But some people create their own “facts” based on their need to believe conspiracy theories, presumably because it makes them feel smarter and/or superior to the hamon am.

    If you read what I wrote properly you would understand that while one CAN speak respectfully to someone he disagrees with, one CANNOT be respectful to those who spread lies, spread disease, and ultimately spread death.

    To “Anonymous,” it seems my fears are verified – you DID know the difference between micrograms and milligrams and yet you intentionally fudged that critical distinction to scare people. Or not. So are you admitting you were…wr…wr…wrong???

    As for the $70K statistic, I too, in my intellectually honest approach, found that statistic online, but it remains irrelevant. You can find similar statistics for atheists. Does that mean atheists are smarter – and therefore more correct – than l’il ol’ me?

    Finally, thanks for providing the link to the mercury issue, because it proves my point, not yours. I encourage people to read it through to the end so that they can learn that for the past nineteen years, vaccines do not contain ANY mercury (known as thimerosal), with the exception of some flu vaccines. If you’re petrified of mercury, you can ask you doctor to ONLY give you thimerosal-free flu vaccines (which most of them are anyway).

  30. My Rav spoke in shul this shabbos, calling anti vaccers “Rodfim”. And you certainly are.

    My child has a serious health issue and is very immune-suppressed. We weren’t able to give her the mmr. It is extremely dangerous for her to catch the measles from the huge outbreak currently going on in our town of Monsey, being spread by the non vaccinated population here.

    By choosing not to vaccinate, you ruin the herd immunity that the ill, immune compromised, cancer survivors, etc rely on since their own immune systems aren’t sufficient, putting them at severe risk and danger to their lives.

  31. As a side note, and having an adorable yet extremely autistic nephew, autism is genetic. He has 5 other autistic first cousins.
    Go do your research on the genetic side of it before screaming vaccines cause it.

    • That is an urban myth but for the most part not correct
      what he supports is young infants should not be vaccinated right away .
      the doctors Rush a little too fast should wait till they get older

  32. Regarding autism having genetic components, that definitely works with a tendency I and many have noticed for vaccine injuries to run in families. There are families that can happily vaccinate according to schedule with no adverse reactions, but sadly, there are many that can not. Or if they do, will suffer terribly from adverse affects that your doctor will rush to reassure you, has absolutely nothing to do with the vaccine your child just got. Completely coincidental, or maybe you are just such a negligent mother and did not notice your child was already like that?!

    Regarding the immune-suppressed in our midst, I hear the sevara. But why are we so worried about the children infecting everyone? Did you ever make sure your Mexican hired help was fully up to date? What about your child’s doctor/ teacher? Vaccines can wear off pretty quickly for some, and even best case scenario, not more than 20 years. So where’s the panic of all these basically unvaccinated adults? Plus that pretty much destroys the theory of herd immunity…
    Also, there are thousands of other viruses, bacteria, and infections that one can catch. Why are we only freaking out about the few “vaccine preventable illnesses” when really the plague in the Western world so many are suffering and dying from is chronic illnesses (caused and exasperated by our modern lifestyle, including yes, vaccines) that doctors have not succeeded with all their billions in research dollars in finding cures for, only managing through drugs that slowly diminish one’s quality and quantity of life. Score another one for the pharmaceutical industry, do you want to let them laugh all the way to the bank? Not me and my family, be’ezras Hashem.

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