TUCSON, Ariz., April 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to an order signed today by Oxiris Barbot, M.D., New York City Commissioner of Health, all persons, adults or children, who live, work, or reside in 11205, 11206, 11221, and/or 11249 ZIP codes, and who have not received the MMR vaccine, “shall be vaccinated against measles” unless able to “demonstrate immunity to the disease or demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Department” that a medical exemption is warranted.

Noncompliance by adults or parents or guardians of children is a misdemeanor punishable by fines, forfeitures, or imprisonment. 

This action is even more extreme than a March 26 order banning unvaccinated persons from entering indoor public spaces, which was overturned by a state Supreme Court judge.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has declared a measles outbreak involving some 250 children, mostly in the Orthodox Jewish community, to be a “ public health emergency .”

State Sen. David Carlucci is pushing legislation that would end most exemptions for vaccinations for children going to school.

Commissioner Barbot declared, “As a pediatrician, I know the MMR vaccine is safe and effective.” However, AAPS notes that absolute statements cannot be made in medicine.

“Vaccinated persons can get, and possibly transmit measles even not visibly ill,” stated AAPS executive director Jane Orient, M.D. “Moreover, vaccines are inevitably unsafe, as recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress in establishing the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The VICP has awarded about $4 billion for vaccine injuries .”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the last U.S. death from measles occurred in 2015.

“All medical interventions, including vaccines, have risks and benefits,” stated AAPS executive director, Jane M. Orient, M.D. “These vary with frequency and severity of disease, vaccine safety, and individual patient circumstances. Professional judgment, not top-down bureaucratic diktat, is needed.”

“Moreover, whatever their doctor advises, patients have the right to withhold informed consent,” she stated. “This is a fundamental liberty right.”

“The U.S. Supreme Court warned against ‘arbitrary and oppressive’ abuse of police power, going ‘far beyond what was reasonably required for the safety of the public ,’ in the 1905 case of Jacobson v. Massachusetts . This case concerned smallpox vaccination during a deadly epidemic that killed 30 percent or more of persons infected,” observes Dr. Orient. “In its vast overreach, New York is ignoring these cautions.”

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a national organization representing physicians in all specialties, founded in 1943. Its motto is “omnia pro aegroto,” or “all for the patient.”

Jane M. Orient, M.D., (520) 323-3110, janeorientmd@gmail.com