Fighting Anti-Vaxxers Among Some Brooklyn Orthodox Jews, Nurses Write A 140-Page Rebuttal

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NEW YORK (JTA) – Before most New Yorkers had ever heard the word “coronavirus,” another public health scare dominated local news: the measles outbreak of 2019, which shared key parallels with the pandemic to come.

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In 2019, when the United States saw 1,282 reported measles cases — the highest number since 1992 — most them were concentrated in under-vaccinated Orthodox communities in New York City and its exurbs. Then as now, most Orthodox rabbis encouraged their congregants and followers to get vaccinated, while community leaders decried what they saw as an antisemitic focus on the idea of Jews spreading disease.

MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination rates subsequently rose in the communities, but a vocal minority of Orthodox Jews glommed onto the wider anti-vax movement. They convened audiences in Brooklyn and Monsey, New York to rail against the imagined dangers of inoculation. One of the most visible Orthodox anti-vax campaigns was a glossy, 40-page pamphlet published by an organization called Parents Educating & Advocating for Children’s Health, or PEACH.

Now, more than two years later, a detailed rebuttal to the pamphlet’s claims has come from a group of Orthodox nurses called Emes, Hebrew for “truth.” Emes was an active advocate for vaccines during the measles outbreak; its own pamphlet is cheekily called PIE, short for Parents Informed and Educated, and clocks in at 144 pages. It offers basic, fact-based information on vaccines and their benefits.

But there’s one disease it doesn’t address: COVID-19. Blima Marcus, the president of Emes who has a doctorate in nursing, said the material for PIE was actually assembled before the pandemic. However, because Emes relied on healthcare workers who were slammed for the past 18 months and aren’t paid for their work with the organization, it was only published and distributed this month.

Marcus hopes the thick document will still be timely, especially as skepticism toward COVID vaccines has drawn some people into the broader anti-vax movement.

“Childhood vaccine hesitancy is huge, and I think a lot of it may have worsened with the whole pandemic of misinformation,” she told The New York Jewish Week, which one year ago chronicled her efforts to counter misinformation about COVID. “I think people started with COVID [vaccine] hesitancy and a lot of people kind of went off the deep end. And we also know that, due to the pandemic, a lot of regular vaccination schedules fell off the grid a little bit.”

Emes has not yet made a digital copy available, but has mailed approximately 30,000 copies to addresses in Brooklyn neighborhoods with large Orthodox populations, such as Borough Park. Marcus hopes other communities will pay Emes to send copies of the pamphlet so that the group can cover its costs.

According to a brief clip of the pamphlet that Marcus shared on Twitter, it has sections dedicated to each recommended vaccine — including statistics on their effectiveness — as well as a recommended immunization timeline. It addresses common anti-vaccine falsehoods and cites sources.

“What we’re hoping is that people realize that they’re kind of being duped and lied to by these misinformation movements,” Marcus said. “So, what I’m really hoping, is that people who have fallen down the rabbit hole or maybe started trusting the wrong sources will realize that there are answers to their questions.”

Emes has considered publishing similar material on COVID, but is hesitant to do so given that the pandemic’s conditions are constantly changing. Measles, by contrast, has not reappeared in the U.S. in significant numbers since 2019.

“We’re all trying to keep our messages nuanced,” she said. “The trouble with writing something on COVID is that a lot of the data is changing, so it might be difficult to address certain issues if we write it in September and it changes by June.”

Marcus and her fellow activists have weathered harassment from anti-vaxxers for their activism, and she got a fresh wave of backlash after tweeting about the pamphlet. She knew it would come, and doesn’t expect it to stop. But she hopes the pamphlet can be a resource for people trying to convince their loved ones to trust public health guidance.

“Just this morning I was told to burn in hell,” she said. “That’s perfectly normal. During the measles outbreak we received a voicemail from someone who called us part of the Judenrat [a term for Jews forced to collaborate with the Nazis during the Holocaust], so you know, we get that, but we’ve also gotten lots of positive feedback.”


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ktzas seichel
ktzas seichel
2 years ago

its not 140 pages addressing the covid vaccine, and stop lumping people who do not want the coronovirus “vaccine” with people who refuse vaccines in general

Jackson
Jackson
2 years ago

I hope she addressed the actual concerns of the anti-vaxxers and the pamphlet does not boil down to “trust me I know better because I have a medical degree” along with a bunch of claims that can be made up either way.

I am vaccinated and 100% pro vax.(but not vaxx mandates) I still think that the pro vax advocates downplay the risks and side effects of the vaccine too much. Which is a big part of why they aren’t trusted. Even though they are correct that you should get vaccinated unless your doctor told you not to

Dr. Alex Morales
Dr. Alex Morales
2 years ago

Serious question: if the vaccines are “safe” (and effective), why are we exempting the manufacturers from any and all liability?

Rella C
Rella C
2 years ago

Courage.

Ask yourself . . .
Ask yourself . . .
2 years ago

By now the stats are in. The “safe and effective” vaccines are neither. As stated several times, getting vaxxed doesn’t mean getting immunity. On the other hand, those who’ve recovered from Covid and are no vaxxed are over 20 times more immune than the vaxxed. The holy CDC refuses to do a study on natural immunity, however. It would upset the narrative of control. But other countries, notably the science-based Israel study, have proven the superiority of natural immunity over endless shots and boosters.

Dr. Alex Morales
Dr. Alex Morales
2 years ago

so, let me get this straight – a “vaccine” that alters DNA, doesn’t prevent the spread of a disease with a >99% survival rate, of which the testing data is hidden for 75 years, along with the list of ingredients, which has known fatalities, is something we should just blindly inject without informed consent? no thank you. I’ll wait for the long term studies, and rely on my immune system as I am naturally immune.

Open minded Dan
Open minded Dan
2 years ago

Shes a straight liberal. Been watching watching her drool over Fauci and any and all government agencies no matter how ridiculous the recommendations/mandates.
Keep pushing the medical agenda down our throats no matter the collateral damage.

A J
A J
2 years ago

Please go to youtube, listen to a podcast, or eat a peach next time you have a medical emergency because all of your healthcare workers in the emergency rooms are “bought” by big pharma and have been “brainwashed” by years of medical training. We actually get paid for ever booster we give…shhh…don’t tell anyone.

Open minded Dan
Open minded Dan
2 years ago

Still blows my mind how so many (frum) people so clearly see the government agenda and overreach during covid, how they profited financially and increased in power along with the medical/pharmaceutical industry, but are still delusional enough to think that this is the first time it has happened and that everything they have been told about vaccines and medical treatments up until this point has been completely honest and unbiased.
Really? Politicians and pharmaceuticals just went corrupt over night?
Think a little for yourself-contrary to what we are told- it’s still ok to do that.

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

Golda I see the toxins are very high from you leaky gut today. Take a double dose of probiotic stat.

Clarity
Clarity
2 years ago

If anyone would like a well-written halachic essay refuting the “teshuva” written by a contemporary Rabbi posted on the peach site and relied on by the anti-vax community, it is available upon request by emailing sechelyoshor gmail.com

Sara
Sara
2 years ago

I personally know a ten year old boy. My daughter does Chesed very very often for them. At age five he received a shot. The next morning he could not talk and was unresponsive. He was in Pre1a in a mainstream school. He is now severely autistic and in special Ed school and the whole family lives around him. When his aides don’t come the whole family all suffers. He is a psychotic, hyper crazy kid who obviously is suffering very badly. Family has been in vax court for years hasn’t received a penny yet. Tell me again how safe vaccines are

lastword
Noble Member
lastword
2 years ago

Search ‘Dr. Suzanne Humphries’. Her book ‘Dissolving Illusions’ takes apart each of the traditional vaccines with solid data – you won’t want to risk a shot for anyone you love ever again.

The PEACH booklets are also online on several frum-interest websites.

For those who feel they are willing to risk vaccines of any type, insist on legal recourse (not currently being offered with the c19 shot, and delegated to the quasi-government’s monkey ‘vaccine court’ for children’s schedule vaccinations) and read about the current growing plague of autism that BigPharma and government refusal to find a correlation to autism with mercury and aluminum laden injections.

Also protest for vaccine choice – NYS is one of only 4 states where no exemption from children’s schedule vaccines is not allowed. It is tyranny not to allow freedom of choice in medical matters.

Sara
Sara
2 years ago

Ironic how they call their organization EMES and then quote “studies” and “science” to prove their Emes. I didn’t realize that this was torat moshe M’Sinai. see, what the educated anti vaxxers know is that studies are irrelevant when the entire system is corrupt. It’s run by a medical mafia that controls billions of dollars on scientific funding and works hand in hand with the companies it’s supposed to be regulating. Many of our government agencies own drug and vaccine patents and profit off them with large royalties. When they leave govt position they work for pharma. Forget if vaccines are safe or not safe based on studies. Those arguments go nowhere because the the studies are rigged, too short, too biased or incomplete.
the studies are simply not reliable because the system is irreparably broken
some of these companies have paid the largest criminal settlements in history (google it- Pfizer) for fraud and more. If you ignore everything and focus on following money, more will be clear why even cdc (especially) is a criminal organization
Do they ever tell you that these supposedly “expert panels” that approve drugs -most of the panel has strong ties both career and financial to the drug industry? Of course not. These are people with stakes in the game and they’re the ones who approve yet another shot for every baby in the country.

Chasid
Chasid
2 years ago

Whoever still trust the medical establishment is either sleeping or has been like a cockroach.

Golda
Golda
2 years ago

She wrote “statistics” on the fake “vaccine’s” effectiveness… Lol. With this “vaccine” you can still get c-19 and it’s still transmissible to others with an equal viral load as those who weren’t “vaccinated”.bPeople are still hospitalized despite being “vaccinated” and c-19 has caused fatalities equally in people who were “vaccinated” and those who weren’t.

But the most telling is that countries and states who have the highest c-19 shot rate have extremely high rates of c-19, way over those states who have lower rates of “vaccination” and which don’t mandate it.

What “effectiveness” this fake “vaccine” has, it is mind-blowing…

Yoni
Yoni
2 years ago

Those antivaxers can not be persuaded by facts. Perhaps if those Fox News personalities would encouraging everyone to vaccinate they may listen.

Really now
Really now
2 years ago

Well that is a going to be a huge waste of paper. Cannot win any of these YouTube watching knowitall with reason or science or facts. These people think the reason all those frum people died in the hospitals in March and April of 2020 is because the doctors and nurses murdered them, either through negligence or ignorance or carelessness or just wanting disregard for human life- depending how far the rabbit hole they have gone. They also think that doctors and nurses are brainwashed or being bribed or are just idiots by big pharma, again depending how far gone they are. So a pamphlet put out by the people you suspect the most isn’t going to help much. In their mind it’s like the Nazis putting out a pamphlet extolling the virtues and beauty of moving into a Bergen Belsen barrack.