City shuts down two more Williamsburg yeshivas for not vaccinating kids, staff against measles
Posted on June 14, 2019 By Kevin Duggan
Sickness sleuths: City disease detectives have already slapped three parents with summonses for allegedly failing to get their kids vaccinated against the measles virus, pictured here in 3D.
The city closed down two more Williamsburg yeshivas for letting unvaccinated kids and staff into their schools, the Department of Health announced Thursday.
Officials shut the UTA of Williamsburg/Yeshiva Torah V'Yirah at 590 Bedford Ave. — for the second time — for not providing enough proof of immunity for a child who was at the school and for allowing unvaccinated kids and staff on site, despite a measles outbreak that has swept through Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn since last fall.
The Department of Health also forced the closure of UTA 212 at 212 Williamsburg St. for letting in 35 students who were either unvaccinated or did not have the required dosage of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, according to the department.
The city's announcement comes just two days after it closed the Central UTA Boys Division at 762 Wythe Ave. and officials have now shut 11 schools since the April 9 order by the commissioner for all residents and people who work or go to school in certain Williamsburg postal codes to get vaccinated against the highly contagious malady.
Both learning facilities will have to provide documentation that all students and staff are vaccinated or have immunity before they can reopen and the department's chief said that these closures send a message that the city won't stop until all schools comply.
"The spread of measles may be slowing down but we are not," said Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot. "This is a message to all schools that have been ordered to exclude unvaccinated children — we will not stop our enforcement until the outbreak comes to an end. School staff must do their part to help us end this outbreak and keep New Yorkers safe."
Reach reporter Kevin Duggan at (718) 260–2511 or by e-mail at kduggan@cnglocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @kduggan16.
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