City health officials warned of a potential measles exposure in Manhattan this weekend after two New Yorkers tested positive for the virus, but said the risk to the public remained extremely low.
The cases were identified in the Lower East Side and SoHo, prompting the health department to reach out to businesses in the area where the patients had visited to encourage others to get tested. The new cases come as the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has advocated for policies that reduce access to vaccines, including the one for measles.
Still, city health department spokesperson Chantal Gomez said the vaccination rate for measles is so high in New York City that the five boroughs have herd immunity to the disease.
Gomez said the two new cases serve as reminders to parents to get their children vaccinated after they turn 1 year old, despite the shifting federal guidelines under the Trump administration.
Local health department data shows that 93% of the city’s 2-year-olds are vaccinated for measles. CDC data shows that the city’s kindergartners are 98% vaccinated against the virus.
CUNY epidemiology professor Denis Nash said the push to get more than 90% of children vaccinated against measles took decades of convincing parents the shots were safe. He said misinformation from the federal government against vaccinations could directly harm New Yorkers.
“I have great concerns,” said Nash. “This kind of messaging will at best confuse people, at worst mislead them about what they need to be doing, staying up to date with routine vaccines that help protect children, older adults and entire populations from bad outcomes of infections like measles.”
Kennedy, earlier this year, abruptly fired every member of a top Centers for Disease Control and Prevention committee that decides how vaccines are administered in the U.S., sparking outrage from the nation’s top health experts.
New York City last saw a major measles outbreak in 2019, when hundreds of people in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish communities caught the disease. The outbreak prompted former Mayor Bill de Blasio to declare a public health emergency.
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said it was important for local officials to inform New Yorkers about the safety of the vaccines while Kennedy and other federal officials under Trump question whether they do more harm than good.
“I’m really worried about what Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s attack on public health institutions is doing here in New York to confidence in this vaccine,” he said. “There are still pockets of resistance to childhood vaccination.”
Earlier this month, Gov. Kathy Hochul issued an executive order that allows pharmacists in the state to administer COVID vaccines to anyone seeking a booster shot this fall, following the Trump administration’s withdrawal of more than $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccines. The move temporarily ensures New Yorkers can continue to get a jab if they want one.
“If only we had leadership in Washington that valued life the way we do,” Hochul said during an appearance at the Cornerstone Baptist Church on Sunday. “Also, was not at war with science and actually is discouraging people from getting lifesaving COVID shots … This Sec. Kennedy does not even believe in vaccinations.”
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