BUFFALO, N.Y. — The number of measles cases here in the United States continues to rise. On Monday, the CDC said there are 764 confirmed cases.
That's 60 more than last week, and the highest number in 25 years.
This reignited the debate about vaccinations and whether religious exemptions should be allowed. And that's something lawmakers are debating in Albany this week.
"This is a public health crisis. Measles can make people, children and adults, very, very ill, and we know that it kills people," says Erie County Commissioner of Health, and pediatrician, Dr. Gale Burstein.
Dr. Burstein supports ending the state's religious exemption for vaccination requirements. If the proposed bills become law, only medical exemptions would be granted.
"Parents would still have the right to refuse immunizations for themselves and their children, they just would not have the right to send their children to licensed child care centers or public schools. So, this is really an act to protect other children in those classrooms or in those child care centers," Burstein said.
With the number of measles cases exploding downstate, Burstein says as the summer travel season gets underway, she expects Erie County to see its first measles case of the year very soon.
New York Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul also supports getting rid of the religious exemption.
"These children are exposing other children especially in schools, they're vulnerable, we have pregnant parents or mothers, we have kids under the age of one who are exposed because you don't even get the vaccination until they're one, so there's a lot of fear out there and we ask people to respect that there's a greater public good and that's why we want to remove that exemption," Hochul said.
In the Niagara Falls City School District, 11 religious exemptions have been granted to nine families. The superintendent thinks that the way the religious exemptions are currently written, it leaves them too open to interpretation.
"It's just not worth putting kids at harm, so I lean towards eliminating the exemption all together, but if there could be stringent enough rules written, I would support it," Superintendent Mark Laurrie said.
Burstein says bottom line, vaccines are safe and effective at saving lives.
"It's really thinking about the rights of the larger population rather than an individual's personal choice," Burstein says.
California got rid of the religious exemption several years ago after a measles outbreak began at Disneyland, and this year, that state has only has 42 measles cases compared to the more than 600 we've had in New York.
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