In a recent CBS interview, Dr. Anthony Fauci discussed herd immunity and he mentioned Measles, saying that “when vaccinations get below that (herd immunity) number you start to see outbreaks like we saw some time ago in the NYC area with Hasidic Jewish people who were not getting vaccinated.”  

At the time, OJPAC gathered data from multiple government and reputable news sites showing that 96% of school-aged children in Hasidic schools were vaccinated with lower pockets here and there as is the case across the state. A 96% vaccination rate is well within the Measles herd immunity level of 90% - 95% mentioned by Dr. Fauci in the same interview. (This link to a 2019 article by OJPAC has the direct quotes and sources for the 96% number).

According to CDC rules however, children should get their second shot against Measles at age 4-6 (which we will average out at age 5 for simplicity of this release). More than a fifth of Hasidic children are under the age of 5; meaning, only 80% of the Hasidic population is of age for full vaccination against Measles which is below the herd immunity level. Moreover, most Measles cases were in children under the age of 18 which matters because 60% of the Hasidic population is under the age of 18 as opposed to only 22% of the overall US population being this young.

Those two factors (young people are not fully vaccinated against Measles due to CDC rules, and Measles attacks mostly children) explains why when there is a Measles outbreak such as the one in 2018-2019, cases would more likely hit children in the Hasidic community than in other communities. What’s more, Brooklyn, Rockland and Orange at the time had fewer than 1,100 Measles cases combined in an area with a combined 180,000 Orthodox Jewish (mostly Hasidic) children under the age of 18. This, plus the 96% school-aged vaccination rate shows that mandated vaccination guidelines are followed among Hasidim at a very high rate.

Dr. Fauci is clearly unaware of these data points from the Measles outbreak, and he incorrectly suggested that the outbreak was caused by Hasidim in NY despite the fact that before the outbreak hit New York, cases arose in states with no Hasidic populations in it and in people who are not Hasidic. Finally, Coronavirus vaccination rates in NYC at this time is lowest among African Americans when looked at it among 5 major racial/ethnic groups (whites, Asians, Latinos etc.), yet not Fauci nor any reputable public health official would point fingers at African Americans as a collective even when the data backs a claim of lower vaccination rates. Outrageously, Dr. Fauci did point at Hasidim in a bigoted way regarding Measles despite no data to back his claim and despite the timeline of the Measles outbreaks not being what he suggested that it is.