Chicken Pox Affects 75 Kids In Brooklyn; Health Officials Raise Alert About Vaccination

A chicken pox outbreak has affected at least 75 children in a Jewish community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and health officers have determined that the disease is spreading fast because many of the patients have not been vaccinated. The experts are now warning parents and the medical community on the dangers of remaining unvaccinated from the disease.

Brooklyn's Health Department issued the alert on Monday as the outbreak's most vulnerable victims are young children. "There have been 75 reports of persons with varicella [chicken pox] who became ill during or after March 2016. The median age of patients is 3 years (range 0 to 10 years)," the department said in a statement, per New York Post.

I have chicken pox scars that my son will (thankfully) never have. Infographic from @bluelobsterweb aka Dawn's Brain pic.twitter.com/X09b3lrhs5

— Cogito (@TheCogitoBlog) February 2, 2016

Among the reported cases, some 72 percent of the children were found to have not received any chicken pox vaccination at all, while 14 percent were not able to complete the recommended number of doses. CBS New York reports that many schools in New York, for both private and public, actually require vaccination in students, but there are exceptions to this due to religious beliefs.

Medical Daily reports that while Williamsburg is predominantly Jewish, there is no law in their religion that prohibits vaccination. In fact, in a report from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene stated that at least 96 percent of Jewish kids attending yeshivas, or its religious school, are vaccinated. "Because we have so many kids, and we are concerned that if something happens... it can affect the entire family, people are going to (get) vaccinations in droves," Isaac Sofer, a Williamsburgh Jewish church leader, said per Forward. 

Thanx @NYCHealthy, doctors, schools & elected officials for attending
meeting on stemming area Chicken pox outbreak pic.twitter.com/e8C99RUr12

— UJO of Williamsburg (@UnitedJewish) May 18, 2016

Health experts are now trying to pin down what makes families decide to forego chicken pox vaccination, apart from religious factors. The department has distributed pamphlets about chicken pox vaccination with both Yiddish and English texts around Jewish neighborhoods in an effort to curb the highly contagious disease. The community leaders are also working with the government agencies, but some believe that the choice to get vaccinated ultimately remains a personal one.

Do you believe that vaccination is a personal choice or a public concern? Let us know in the comments!