An anti-vaccination rally publicized on social media drew a small crowd of protesters Thursday morning to the Palisades Center in West Nyack — just two days after Rockland County declared a state of emergency amid a measles outbreak.

Some from among the roughly 10 protesters who attended the rally adjacent to the carousel on the mall's third floor said the county's mandate banning unvaccinated children between the ages of 1 and 18 from public spaces went too far.

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"This is an over-the-top overreach," said Rita Palma of Bayport, Long island. A lobbyist who founded an organization called "My Kids, My Choice," Palma said County Executive Ed Day's emergency order "doesn't make any sense."

The mall is an example of a public place where unvaccinated children are banned. Other places include schools, restaurants, stores and places of worship, although county officials said the emergency declaration is not enforceable but rather a tool to highlight the serious nature of the outbreak and convince people to vaccinate.

The emergency order forbids schools from allowing unvaccinated students with religious exemptions to attend. This has resulted in a range of 11 to 50 children missing classes in each of Rockland's public school districts, according to BOCES communications director Scott Salotto.

'Misled by junk science'

In response to Thursday's protest, Day said in statement that there had been a great deal of support from within the community and across the country regarding the state of emergency.

"The handful of individuals who gathered at the Palisades Center this morning do not appear to represent our residents but they are welcome, as is any other American to voice their opinions," he said in the statement. "They merely reaffirm that more work must be done to educate those who have been misled by junk science and misinformation."

Major health and medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, support vaccines as safe and effective.

“While these parents undoubtedly have their children’s best interests at heart, they are putting them, and everyone else at risk, and there are public health consequences,” according to a statement from Dr. Aaron Glatt, an Infectious Diseases Society of America spokesman.

But another protester at Thursday morning's rally, Tamara Silberman of Westchester, called the vaccination order a civil rights issue, noting the order affects young people who want to attend synagogue, among other places.

"How does the government have a right to do that," she said. "Americans have a right to do as they please. Americans have freedom of worship."

Silberman also said the order was unfairly singling out the Jewish community, where most of Rockland's measles cases have occurred in the Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish communities.

"I never heard of a group of people who are being singled out," she said. "They're saying children can’t go to synagogue."

Six-month outbreak

Day announced the emergency declaration Tuesday afternoon and it went into effect at midnight. He said during Tuesday's press conference that he chose to declare the emergency about six months after the outbreak began because county health inspectors had started seeing pockets of resistance as the number of measles cases continue to grow.

The outbreak has less than 10 active cases currently, but a total number of 156 cases since October.

County Health Commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert said Wednesday at a free measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccination clinic hosted by the county that 10 percent of the measles cases since the outbreak has began have had serious medical complications, including intensive care unit visits and a premature pregnancy in which the baby was born with measles.

Only about 30 people attended the county-run vaccination clinic, but some local pediatricians saw a spike in reluctant parents who were vaccinating due to the emergency order.

Day said at Tuesday's press conference that of the total number of measles cases, 83.7 percent or 128 people were 18 or younger. He said those with medical exemptions are excluded from his order, but not religious exemptions.

Ruppert said county health officials have gotten pushback from people all over the county, not just the Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish communities where most of the measles cases have been.

Stephanie Mahairas, who would not say where she was from, wore a T-shirt to Thursday's rally that read "Research Before Vaccinating" and had a "No Vax" yellow star affixed to her backpack that was reminiscent of the ones Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust.

"This is about religion, singling out the Jews," she said while self-identifying as a Christian. "This is about the state imposing itself on a person's bodily integrity."

She added: "Who's next? The Christians who don't want to to partake in abortion?"

Thursday's rally, publicized via a Facebook event called "Rockland County — Unvaccinated Civil Disobedience" was organized by a group called Pro-Informed Consent, which has spoken out against the county's ban of unvaccinated minors in public places.

"This is about healthy people being quarantined and barred from public places," said Palma, who is not associated with Pro-Informed Consent. "People have a right to choose for their own children and make their own decisions."

Palma wore a shirt that said #VaxWoke and #MyChoice, but declined to debate the science of vaccinations. "This is about healthy children not being allowed to go to the schools or parties," she said.

Clarkstown police and mall security maintained a presence during Thursday's gathering. According to mall rules, people can gather but no signs or speeches are permitted.

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