New York – Hoping to counter misinformation about vaccination rates in the Chasidic community, a Rockland County based public affairs group has taken out a Times Square billboard assuring passersby that nearly all Chasidim immunize their children and asking them if they do as well.
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The billboard, located above the marquee at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!, is short and to the point, stating simply “96% Hasidim Vaccinate. Do You?” The public service announcement was created by the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council which goes by the acronym OJPAC.
The eye-cathcing message went up Tuesday morning, with a two pronged purpose, explained OJPAC’s Yossi Gestetner.
“In recent weeks we have had firsthand reports of people being berated, criticized and asked questions in very uncomfortable ways regarding vaccinations and diseases,” Gestetner told VIN News. “We are looking to get the message across that vaccination rates are very high in the Chasidic community and also to bring attention to the fact that there are many anti-vaxxers outside the Chasidic community.”
Gestetner said that the 96 percent statistic comes from media reports.
According to an opinion piece that appeared in the Daily News (http://bit.ly/30BkyTW) last week, the New York State Department of Health reported a 96 percent vaccination rate at 200 Jewish schools, most of which are located in Borough Park and Williamsburg.
That number surpasses the 90 percent vaccination rate among other New York State private schools. A statement released by Agudath Israel of America on April 10th also quotes the 96 percent statistic, a number that it said comes from “governmental records” and encompasses yeshivas all across New York.
The billboard will remain in place for one week. Gestetner declined to say how much it cost to place OJPAC’s message in the prime location that is often referred to as “the crossroads of the world”, acceding only that it costs “thousands.” He hopes that additional donations will allow him to post another in Brooklyn near the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and a third on Route 17 heading toward the Catskills where thousands of Chasidic summer residents summer each year.
Feedback so far has been very positive, noted Gestetner.
“People in the Orthodox community, and even more so in the Chasidic community, feel like they are under siege,” said Gestetner. “They have had people running away from them, crazy stories. This is pushing back, in a simplified way.”
Yes great move. And the media should be sued for continuing to blame the ultra Orthodox Jew and blame us. Keep religion out of it. If o said more blacks have AIDS to wreckless behavior you’d sue my pants off. This is not just an issue with the fake liberal news. I think conservatives are just as guilty although I hear it on wcbs all the time
Fed Up With Misconceptions About Chasidim Not Knowing English Grammar, Times Square Billboard Seeks to Reinforce the Stereotype
While I applaud the effort to put a good face on the Hasidic community the reality is the statistic is misleading. Even if the average over 200 schools is 96% there are some schools which have much lower rates, which is why the disease is spreading. And the 96% rate would include all grades, whereas the anti-vaxx movement has increased in the last few years, so in younger grades you have more children not vaccinated.
Vaccination rates should ideally be, I think, between 98% – 100% and that should be for each and every school not an average of all schools together.
There is a VERY FAMOUS Orthodox news phone hotline which is based in Brooklyn they report worldwide news on a minute by minute basis especial news that pertains to the Frum community. Thousands of frum Jews worldwide call in daily to listen.
MOST who read this comment know about this phone news hotline.
They have many many interviews daily on all kind of topics including doctors,lawyers,pilots and anything and everything.
It is a HUGE SHANDA that on the topic of Vaccination they talk nothing like the topic doesn’t even exists.
They are doing a huge disservice to the entire worldwide Jewish community by ignoring the topic.
Instead of spending a lot of money on billboards maybe they should spend it on reimbursing Rockland for all the tax money used for vaccinations.
“Educated Archy” and Anonymous – you might want to check your data.
According to the OVG (the British version of the CDC), “To achieve herd immunity for measles at least 90-95% of the population need to be vaccinated. A disease like polio is less contagious, and 80-85% of the population would need to be vaccinated for herd immunity to work.”
The immunization rate across the country is is hovering around 93% – with New Jersey being under 90% (89% as of January).
The Hasidic’s community’s 96% vaccination rate is a purposely kept secret – with a nefarious agenda: By equating the anti-vax movement with “Hasidic Jews,” the attempt is to kill two birds with one stone. It makes anti-vaxxers look “dirty and stupid” and it makes us Jews look like “uneducated anti-vaxxers.”
The fact is that 96% of Hasidic Jews are vaccinated and 99% of anti-vaxxers aren’t Jewish.
The highly respected and independent U.S. Center for Disease Control in said the vaccine rate for measles in 2017 was a “stable” 90% across the whole country for all children. Everyone reading VIN knows the Chassidishe rate is far below that. The billboard won’t protect anyone from diseases. Vaccines will.
Better to fix the problem than to spend effort laying blame.
Enough with this stupid nonsense propaganda
If you really want to shut the debate down then just do the frikin survey showing vaccinated kids against non vaccinated kids
As long as they refuse and fight against this study they fule the fire and enlargening the debate and will eventually loose it
Sombody erased the dot! It originally said “9.6% [of] HASIDIM VACCINATE”
As long as these shotim claim a religious objection we will all be blamed if there is heaven forbid a major outbreak.
We need more signs like this one to let the world know the strange behavior of rodfim like Hollander and his crowd of unEDucated lunatic followers have no basis in normative Torah Judaism.