The state clamped down on mobile billboards proclaiming “polio is spreading in Israel” after elected officials and Orthodox Jewish leaders criticized the polio vaccination drive for anti-Semitism.
Billboard trucks, commissioned to mark Passover, have been seen traveling through the large Orthodox Jewish population in Rockland and other areas of the state.
After hearing backlash from mobile van ads aimed at reaching New Yorkers to spread polio to their communities, the department immediately pulled those ads, said Sam Miller, New York’s associate commissioner for external affairs. York State Department of Health.
Rockland County was diagnosed with polio for the first time in decades in July 2022, when a 20-year-old man was permanently paralyzed by the virus. He was never vaccinated against polio.
Israel’s health ministry confirmed this month that four children had contracted polio, including an 8-year-old who was paralyzed by the virus in February.
From state and warning US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Israel, as well as England, Ukraine and other international locations have listed concerns about the polio virus being active in wastewater tests.
Rockland County spokeswoman Beth Cefalu said county officials were not aware of the billboard until a reporter contacted them. He called them “sensitive”.
Miller said the health department “is committed to serving the diverse communities of New York State, and we strongly condemn antisemitism.”
The state health department said the LED trucks traveled through Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Nassau and Rockland, where many travelers to Israel are likely to live for Passover. The routes ended on Monday.
‘Anxious to stand by us’
Libby Brewer of Wesley Hills said the problem isn’t using a truck to spread important health information. It focuses on just one country and one community: Israel and Orthodox Jews.
“It’s targeting us in an inappropriate way,” said Brewer, who is Orthodox. “It’s making our local neighbors afraid to join us, worried about standing next to us in the grocery line.”
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During the 2018-2019 measles outbreak in Rockland and then when the county’s Covid rates spiked in the spring of 2020, Jewish community leaders warned that their community was being stigmatized.
Travel concerns for the holidays
Polio is insidious and potentially fatal: about three-quarters of people who get it are asymptomatic; About 25% may experience flulike symptoms. Less than 1% can have the most serious effects, including permanent paralysis, meningitis and death.
State health departments urge a one-time polio booster shot for vaccinated individuals traveling to polio-endemic areas.
Those who have not been vaccinated, or parents who have delayed vaccinating their children, are urged to start the polio series before travel. Even a single dose to start the cycle will provide protection, health officials say. Two doses provide 90% protection. Complete vaccination against the virus is considered to be nearly 100% effective in preventing illness from the virus.
As Passover begins on the evening of April 5 and continues through April 13, travel between New York and Israel is expected to increase, state and Rockland officials said, and there is a real risk of poliovirus spreading among those who have not been vaccinated.
Travel in general is expected to pick up next week, with most schools in the region closed for spring break and Covid concerns easing.
The state’s polio travel awareness campaign also includes advertisements in Jewish newspapers, synagogue newsletters and digital searches.
“We will continue to work with our partners to stop the spread of a once-eradicated disease that causes preventable, life-threatening paralysis,” said DOH’s Miller.
Meanwhile, Rockland County Executive Ed Day said Wednesday that he plans to write to President Biden again and call for regulations to force all visitors to the United States to show proof of vaccination. “All visitors to this country must show proof of vaccination for vaccine-preventable diseases before they are allowed to enter the United States,” Day said, “the same way it was enforced during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Nancy Cutler writes about People and Policy. Follow him on Twitter @NancyRockland.
