Last year in September, measles outbreak in Israel initiated after a big number of Hasidic Orthodox pilgrims visited Uman, Ukraine and brought the infection to Israel.
Each year, thousands of Jews assemble in the central Ukrainian city, Uman for prayers on the occasion of Rosh Hashanah, which is celebrated as the Jewish New Year. They all gather near the burial site of Rabbi Nachman.
The New York Times (NYT) reported Wednesday that measles outbreak in Ukraine began in 2017 and almost 70,000 people had caught the infection. In late September, following the Jewish New Year and the annual pilgrimage, there were cases of measles reported in Israel.
According to the newspaper, citing Dr. Patrick O’Connor, who is the leader of the rapid disease control team at the WHO’s Europe office, there were total number of 949 measles cases confirmed in October. The cause of this epidemic in Israel is believed to be associated with the pilgrims visit to Ukraine.
The serious health outbreak in the US began in October with a child belonging to Bensonhurst section who had visited Israel. In the meantime, an outbreak began among Orthodox Jews in London in October.
According to Dr. O’Conner, the outbreak in the country started in March 2018, in the north part of it, in a small Orthodox group of people in Safed.
Actually, Orthodox Jews are ready to show acceptance to vaccines in Israel for the most part; however, large Orthodox Jews families are not taking interest in making sure all their children get vaccinated or not. The range of vaccination among the Orthodox in Israel is nearly 80 percent, and the virus spreads faster as Orthodox children tend to attend more life-cycle events such as circumcisions or marriages, being exposed to more chances of getting the infection.
