In Lakewood, vaccination choice group meets swift rebuttal in religious community

LAKEWOOD - An effort here to create a coalition supporting Jewish families that choose not to vaccinate their children has reignited controversy over immunizations.

A coalition website that surfaced last week paired with an email sent to members of the Orthodox Jewish community have caused a fervor of commentary and prompted repudiation from religious leaders.

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The coalition "aims to address the current pressing issue of schools rejecting or dismissing non-vaccinated children," an email sent to Lakewood families and obtained by the Asbury Park Press reads. "It will also be available to help non-vaccinating parents in Lakewood in any area we feel we can, as well as to provide support of 'strength in numbers’ to pro-vaccine choice Lakewood families."

Multiple phone messages and emails to the coalition were not returned.

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Some of Lakewood's most influential Jewish institutions rebuffed the effort, calling it the work of a small, fringe group that ignores the advice of medical professionals who overwhelmingly support immunizations.

Among those are Beth Medrash Govoha college; the Lakewood Vaad, a council of Jewish leaders and rabbis; the Center for Health Education, Medicine and Dentistry on Route 9; and doctors Robert Shanik and Jonathan Cohen. They issued a joint statement supporting immunizations for children.

“We are strong backers of the current state regulations that require that every child in school be properly immunized," the statement reads. "The regulations are proper and should not be changed. The regulations allow appropriate exceptions for exceptional cases when a child’s immune system is compromised, such as a child undergoing chemotherapy treatment, and no other exceptions should be made.”

The vaccination coalition website claims to have the endorsement of Beth Medrash Govoha dean Rabbi Malkeil Kotler. Rabbis Elya Ber Wachtfogel and Shmuel Meir Katz are also listed as supporters on the coalition website. None of the three could be reached for comment.

State law requires all public and private school students to show proof of immunizations before they enroll, and sets a schedule for subsequent vaccinations. The law allows exemptions for medical reasons or if a family says a vaccine would violate religious grounds.

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Religious exemptions have been increasing over time, and in Ocean County occur more frequently than the statewide rate, according to the New Jersey Department of Health.

In the last school year, 95 percent of children statewide were vaccinated, according to state health data. That year 2 percent of New Jersey families claimed a medical exemption. In the 2007-08 school year, about 2,105 children, or 0.4 percent, had a religious exemption, according to the data.

In Ocean County the rate of religious exemptions in the last school year was slightly higher at 3 percent — or about 800 students. In Lakewood, the data say that number was higher at nearly 4 percent, or about 320 students.

Lack of immunizations have been blamed for outbreaks within other Orthodox Jewish communities. In 2013, the largest measles outbreak in the United States in 17 years spread through Orthodox families in two Brooklyn neighborhoods, according to a joint report by the New York City Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Learn more about measles in the video at the top of this story. Of 28 people infected in Borough Park, the majority were members of three families who declined vaccinations, the report says.

It is unclear exactly what sparked the effort to form the coalition in Lakewood, which according to the email will launch when 250 families sign up.

“The overwhelming response is that it is irresponsible," said Rabbi Moshe Z. Weisberg, a member of the Vaad and who serves on the steering committee of Igud Hamosdos, an organization of 120 private Jewish schools in the township. The schools obey state guidelines and the recommendations of doctors, he said.

"As a matter of policy they don’t accept students that have not been vaccinated," he said. Lakewood Public School District leaders say the district follows state law, requiring documentation of immunizations or an exemption.

Schools can exclude students who do not get vaccinations and who do not have an exemption, according to State Epidemiologist Christina Tan.

"Keeping the vaccination coverage levels high will help prevent disease transmission among the school population," she said. "That has an impact on the entire community."

A child who is not vaccinated can bring diseases to classmates, or bring them home to particularly susceptible family members, including the elderly and other children, Tan said.

So-called anti-vaxxer movements have surfaced over the years in Lakewood and on a national scale, prompting harsh division among parents who follow doctors orders and those who believe vaccines cause harm. One of the leading reports that connected vaccines to higher rates of autism was retracted in 2010. Subsequent studies have found no such link.

And in 2015, reports revealed a growing numbers of parents who skipped vaccinations for their young children led to a resurgence of the measles.

Learn more

The Lakewood Resource and Referral Center, a social services community organization, has scheduled a conference call for the public to learn more about vaccines. The call, which has been scheduled for weeks and is funded by a federal grant, includes Dr. Paul A. Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

The call begins at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Call 712-770-8029 and use conference code 716814.

Stacey Barchenger: 732-427-0114; sbarchenger@gannettnj.com; @sbarchenger