Measles Outbreak Emergency Declared in New York County

A New York state county has declared a state of emergency following a recent measles outbreak. After 153 cases were confirmed, Rockland County has barred unvaccinated children from public spaces. Violating the order will result in up to six months in prison, and a fine of up to $500 (around £380)

The first reports of measles in the area came out six months ago, and each week there has been a new report with increasing numbers. It is believed the outbreak could spread from Rockland to the rest of New York if control measures are not put in place. Rockland County Executive Ed Day said, “We will not sit idly by while children in our community are at risk”

Measles was proclaimed eliminated in the United States in 2000, but in recent years a handful of outbreaks have been spreading. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 314 confirmed measles cases so far in the United States in 2019 (as of the 21st of March)

Rockland County has a population of more than 300,000. Officials have said that the order will come into effect at midnight on Wednesday the third of April and last for 30 days. It bans anybody under the age of 18 who has not been vaccinated from public spaces such as schools, shopping centres, restaurants, and places of worship. It is unclear at this point how individuals will be able to prove they are vaccinated to officials.

When given in two doses, the MMR vaccine is around 97 percent effective in fighting measles.

Daniel Salmon, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said the risk of unvaccinated children spreading the disease to people who could not, for medical reasons or age, be vaccinated made Rockland County’s order reasonable. “One could even argue they’re compelled to take action because they’re responsible for protecting the public,” he said.

Breaking News: Anti-Vaccine Posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter Could Be Banned Under New UK Law

The government is now considering new rules to ban any anti-vaccination posts from social media sites including Facebook and Twitter, after a surge in content promoting false information.

The Health Secretary Matt Hancock said internet firms have a "duty of care" to their users and that it something needs to be done to enforce that duty of care.

The news follows the technology firm who runs Instagram and Facebook promising it was “fully committed” to combatting anti-vaccine campaigns.

Facebook's head of Global Policy, Monika Bickert, outlined the measures the firm is taking in a recent blog post: "We are exploring ways to give people more accurate information from expert organisations about vaccines at the top of results for related searches, on Pages discussing the topic, and on invitations to join groups about the topic."

Despite these claims, research by The Byte shows that anti-vaccinations posts still feature predominantly on searches for vaccines on the site

At this point it still isn’t clear what the legislation introduced by the UK government might look like. The Health Secretary said that it could possibly fall under the same rules designed to fight material promoting suicide and terrorism.

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