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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
NY Assembly Dems accused of ‘veiled antisemitism' after killing bipartisan bill to commemorate Oct. 7 attack on Israel
ALBANY – Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie torpedoed a bipartisan bill that would have commemorated the horrific Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. The Bronx pol went to extraordinary lengths Friday to ensure that the measure would not make it to the Assembly floor for a vote, stacking a committee with compliant Democratic allies who'd vote to scuttle it, sources said. The bill, sponsored by Republican Assemblyman Lester Chang, would have enshrined Oct. 7 alongside other days of commemoration in the Empire State, such as 'Rosa Parks Day' and 'Susan B. Anthony Day.' Sources suggested that Heastie, the most powerful Democrat in the Assembly, likely didn't want a bill with a Republican as its primary sponsor reach the floor for a vote — even though a number of Dems co-sponsored it. 'It shouldn't be controversial just because I'm a Republican,' said Chang (R-Brooklyn). 'It's ugly. It's destructive. It's hurtful for both sides,' Chang said of Heastie's actions, adding, 'And it's important that we remember 1,200 victims.' The move to kill the Oct. 7 bill follows chaotic behind-the-scenes drama that unfolded this week when Heastie permitted putting up a resolution honoring Palestinian Americans onto the floor before yanking it at the last minute. The lower chamber's ways and means committee also killed a bill by Assemblyman Ari Brown (R-Nassau) that would've required New York schools to teach about Oct. 7, in addition to making it a day of commemoration like Chang's measure. Brown, who is Jewish, accused the Democrats of 'veiled antisemitism.' 'Albany's legislature is rotten with veiled antisemitism, and their sabotage of my bill, A06557, to honor October 7th victims and fight hate, is proof,' Brown said. 'If this were a bill for the Black or Hispanic community, it would've passed with praise and fanfare. This isn't just obstruction; it's a vile, calculated betrayal of Jews as a minority, letting hatred win with their cowardly tactics.' Other lawmakers piled on condemning the Democrats' allegedly craven — or worse — motivations. 'It's particularly disheartening to see a bill held for purely political reasons,' said Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Nassau), the top GOP lawmaker on the ways and means committee. 'These bills are designed to ensure we remember the atrocities of October 7, 2023 and help combat antisemitism, neither of which should ever be partisan or political.' The Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by terrorist group Hamas and Israel's subsequent war in Gaza have roiled New York politics and exposed bitter rifts among Democrats. The divide can be clearly seen in New York City's mayoral race, where old-school Democrat Andrew Cuomo has presented himself as a steadfast supporter of Israel and its fight against Hamas. Cuomo is the contest's frontrunner, but Israel critic Zohran Mamdani — a Democratic socialist Assembly member from Queens — is nipping at his heels. Many progressive Dems and leftists have claimed Israel's actions amount to genocide against Palestinians. Pro-Israel advocates have said that stance is antisemitic. One high-ranking Democratic Big Apple lawmaker said uniting over commemorating the 1,200 victims and dozens of hostages still being held by Hamas should be a no-brainer. 'There should be no controversy of a day commemorating the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust,' the lawmaker said. The bill's road to legislative purgatory began when ways and means committee Chair and top Heastie lieutenant Assemblyman Gary Pretlow (D-Westchester) announced that four regular members of the panel would be substituted by other, 'acting' members. The four members included one Jewish lawmaker and another who reps a district with a significant Jewish population, as well as Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn (D-Brooklyn), would've voted against killing it, her spokesperson said. But the spokesperson noted that Bichotte Hermelyn would've preferred the bill had a Democratic sponsor. Chang said that he'd be willing to let a Democrat take over as the bill's sponsor if it meant passing it. Substitutions on committees aren't unheard of, but the maneuver is usually made to spare a member from making a tough vote or when leadership expects some of its members to vote out of line, as happened Friday. Several Democrats – Assemblymembers Ed Braunstein, William Colton, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Nily Rozic, Rebecca Seawright, and Amanda Septimo and David Weprin, who are all from New York City – broke from their party to support the commemoration bill. 'No one should use Oct. 7th as a political pawn. We owe the 56 hostages and their families more than that,' Rozic said. The sudden switcheroo on the commemoration bill committee came after Heastie also put the kibosh on a resolution honoring Palestinian Americans, sponsored by lefty Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher (D-Brooklyn), earlier this week. Tens of thousands of such resolutions are passed by the Assembly every year, and are usually not controversial. A copy of the draft resolution obtained by The Post indicates it would have read that 'Palestinian Americans in New York are increasingly involved in advocacy, activism, and civil rights work, particularly related to Middle Eastern issues, anti-racism, and immigrants.' Sources said Heastie allowed the resolution onto the floor with strict instructions for Gallagher to keep her remarks specific to it, meaning he didn't want her to opine on the Israel-Gaza war. But Heastie caught wind that that Republicans were going to call for a roll call vote — meaning every member would have to be recorded as voting in support or against her resolution — a highly unusual, if not totally unheard of move, sources familiar with the backroom dealings said. Heastie then pulled the measure, so as to avoid any drama on the Assembly floor. A spokesperson for Heastie did not return a request for comment. — Additional reporting by Matt Troutman
WIRED
17-04-2025
- Health
- WIRED
Measles Cases Are Rising. Other Preventable Diseases Could Follow
Apr 17, 2025 6:00 AM Amid an ongoing measles outbreak, the US is also facing a surge in pertussis, or whooping cough. As vaccine rates drop, other diseases could be next. Photo-Illustration: WIRED Staff; Getty Images As the United States grapples with rising measles cases and outbreaks in several states, another vaccine-preventable disease is quietly spreading throughout the country. This year, there have been at least 7,599 cases of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, up from 3,473 cases at this time last year, according to the latest tally by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With a record number of parents seeking vaccine exemptions for their children and childhood vaccination rates declining, more outbreaks of measles, pertussis, and other diseases are not just likely, they're inevitable. 'When vaccination rates fall, the first disease you're going to see show up is measles because it's so contagious, but others will follow,' says Ari Brown, a pediatrician in Texas, the epicenter of the current measles outbreak, and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. 'This is a troublesome trend.' Last year, there were 285 cases of measles for all of 2024. This year, cases have already risen to over 700, and two children have died of the disease. Children have also been dying of whooping cough. In Louisiana, two infants died of the disease in the past six months—the state's first deaths from the illness since 2018—according to a recent statement by the state's surgeon general. In January, South Dakota's department of health announced that a child died due to a co-infection of flu and pertussis. And in February, a local health department in Washington confirmed that a Spokane County child under the age of 5 died of whooping cough—the first in the state since 2011. A type of bacterial infection, whooping cough is spread through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It causes flu-like symptoms and violent, rapid coughing. It's known for the characteristic, high-pitched 'whoop' sound when someone inhales after a coughing fit. The disease is especially dangerous for babies because it can interfere with their breathing. Nationwide, there were 35,435 cases of whooping cough in 2024, compared with 7,063 in 2023, according to a provisional surveillance report from the CDC. Cases hit a low of 2,116 in 2021 due to social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic and were still on the rebound in 2023. Yet 2024's numbers far outpaced the 18,617 cases seen in 2019 and 15,609 cases in 2018. The disease can lead to serious complications, including pneumonia, seizures, brain damage, and death. Infants and young children are particularly at risk. Around a third of infants under six months old who came down with whooping cough in 2024 required hospitalization. 'The crux of the disease is that it's caused by this particular bacteria, Bordetella pertussis , which creates a toxin, and that toxin can be very damaging to our lungs,' says Amy Edwards, associate professor of pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Vaccination is the best way to protect against infection and severe disease. The diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, or DTaP, vaccine is given in five doses in infancy and early childhood. Immunity from vaccination and natural infection eventually wanes, and a booster shot is recommended at age 11 or 12 and every 10 years after, including for adults. The CDC advises pregnant people to get a booster during each pregnancy. Fewer children getting vaccinated also affects adults, who are less likely to be up-to-date on their recommended vaccinations. 'Because a lot of adults don't get boosted, pertussis is going to be one of the earliest vaccine-preventable illnesses that we see in that population,' Edwards says. 'Other vaccine-preventable illnesses will follow if we don't get ahead of it and vaccinate our children.' For pertussis and measles, high rates of vaccination within communities are needed to make sure everyone is protected from infection and severe disease—some people can't take vaccines for medical reasons, or may have weakened immune systems, and so rely on the collective immunity of everyone else to avoid getting these infections. For measles, 95 percent vaccine coverage is needed for community protection. For pertussis, it's 92 to 94 percent. In many places in the US, vaccination rates have been steadily declining. The pandemic disrupted many routine health care services, leading to a dip in childhood vaccination rates, and those rates have yet to recover. Confidence in childhood vaccination has plummeted among Republicans, a spillover effect from growing distrust in science as a result of Covid vaccine mandates and rapidly evolving health guidance during the pandemic. More parents are now opting out of vaccinating their children for religious and philosophical reasons. After a decade of nearly 95 percent of children nationwide receiving all four of the major childhood vaccines—MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella), DTaP, poliovirus, and chickenpox—coverage declined to 93 percent from 2019 to 2023. It fell again, to below 93 percent, during the 2023 to 2024 school year, while the number of exemptions from one or more vaccines among kindergartners grew. Public health experts worry that childhood vaccination rates could dip further under the current Trump administration with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm of the US Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC. Kennedy has long promoted the discredited claim that vaccines cause autism and other anti-vaccine myths. Amid rising measles cases—the highest in the US since 2019—Kennedy has downplayed the threat of the disease. 'We're certainly seeing an increase in the momentum towards the idea of medical freedom or personal choice, and we've heard that messaging reiterated by our current administration,' says Crystal Rommen, director of Louisiana Families for Vaccines, a nonprofit that provides evidence-based information to educate families about the impact of vaccines. 'One message that we're really trying to emphasize to the parents and the other community members across the state is that the MMR vaccine is safe. It's effective,' she says. Chickenpox is one disease that could come back as a result of declining vaccination rates. Before a vaccine was introduced in 1995, more than 4 million people got chickenpox each year, hospitalizations numbered more than 10,000, and as many as 150 people died, half of them children, according to the CDC. Diphtheria and tetanus—the other diseases the DTaP vaccine protects against—could be next. While diphtheria has essentially been eradicated in the US, there have been recent cases in Europe. Other vaccine-preventable diseases, such as pneumococcal disease and Haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib disease, could also rebound. There's a risk of polio reemergence, too. The US eradicated polio in 1979, and the rest of the world is on the brink of doing so, but USAID cuts by the Trump administration that provide funding for polio vaccination could put that status in jeopardy. If polio cases flare up outside of the US, falling vaccine coverage inside of the country could then leave children vulnerable. 'It depends on how low the vaccination rates get,' Edwards says. 'If people see these outbreaks as a wake-up call and vaccine uptake increases, we really could dodge the rest. But I don't hold out hope for that.'
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
5 things to know about measles
Before there was a vaccine in 1963, measles infected millions and killed hundreds of people in the U.S. every year. Now, with the first measles death occurring in over a decade, doctors warn that declining vaccination rates are bringing the disease back, putting more people — especially children — at risk. Here are five things to know about measles. Measles is a highly contagious virus that can cause serious illness. One in nine people who are exposed to the measles virus will become infected if they don't have immunity through previous infection or vaccination, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms often begin one to two weeks after exposure. Early symptoms can look like other common respiratory illnesses starting with a high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and white spots in the mouth. Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in Austin, Texas, who treated measles decades ago, warns measles 'doesn't look like measles initially, and so that's what's so scary ... this could look like flu.' A distinct red rash typically appears three to five days later, usually starting on the face and spreading down the body. The CDC recommends all children receive two doses of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine, with the first dose given between 12-15 months and the second dose when they reach 4-6 years old. MORE: Measles cases are rising in the US, mainly among those who are unvaccinated: Health officials In some circumstances, children as young as 6 months old may receive the vaccine, and a second dose can be given as soon as 28 days after the first, according to the CDC. Dr. Lara Johnson, a pediatrician and the chief medical officer at Covenant Children's and Covenant Health in Lubbock, Texas, said people worried about their vaccination status should talk to their doctor. 'One of the messages that's really important in the context of this outbreak is, if you're behind on your vaccinations, now's a great time to get caught up,' Johnson told ABC News. One dose of the MMR vaccine is 93% effective against measles and two doses are 97% effective, according to the CDC. That means that 3 out of 100 vaccinated people may get sick if exposed to the virus, but these infections are usually less severe than in unvaccinated people who get sick, according to the CDC. MORE: Texas measles outbreak grows to 124 cases, mostly among unvaccinated Most people who were vaccinated as children won't need any additional measles vaccines. But adults who only had one measles vaccination or people who were vaccinated in the 1960s may be candidates for an additional vaccination. Anyone unsure of their vaccination status should have a discussion with their doctor. There's no harm in getting an additional dose of the MMR vaccine. According to the CDC, people born before 1957 are immune to the virus because almost everyone at the time was infected with measles, mumps and rubella during their childhood. Anyone living in a high-risk area should speak to their doctor about whether they need a booster, according to the CDC. Measles in pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of miscarriage, low birth weight and preterm birth, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. However, women should not receive the MMR vaccine while they are pregnant because it is a live vaccine. MORE: Measles cases surge worldwide, infecting 10.3 million people in 2023: WHO If a pregnant person is exposed to measles, they should talk to their doctor as soon as possible — within six days — to know if they should receive a post-exposure prophylaxis with measles immunoglobulin (an injection of antibodies that can help reduce the severity of illness for high-risk people), according to the CDC. Measles can cause complications like pneumonia, brain swelling, long-term hearing loss and death — as is the case in the current Texas outbreak. In the decade before the measles vaccine, the CDC estimates 3 to 4 million people were infected and 400 to 400 people died from the virus every year in the United States. Other long-term complications include subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a rare but fatal complication that can develop seven to ten years after recovery. SSPE causes a gradual loss of mental abilities, which progresses to a vegetative state and eventually leads to death, according to the National Institutes of Health. There is no specific treatment for measles, so doctors say the best way to prevent complications of measles is to get vaccinated. 'The vaccine is so effective,' Dr. Summer Davies, a pediatrician currently treating hospitalized patients at Texas Tech University Health Science Center and Covenant Children's, told ABC News. Davies said the best way to protect yourself, your children and your community is to get the vaccine, even 'if you're not worried yourself about getting it.' This is not just like any other virus, Davies said. 'Some people think, 'Oh, this is just a virus like the flu. I'll get it, maybe get a fever and rash and get over it,'' Davies said. 'But it can be really severe, as we have seen here.' Johnson said that measles is not just an issue from the past, but something that could progress in the future without proper vaccinations. '[Measles] seems like something from the past,' Johnson said. 'But if we don't continue to vaccinate and do things that we did in order to make these illnesses of the past, then they'll be illnesses of the present.' -Dr. Amanda Hargett-Granato and Jade A Cobern contributed to this report. Hargett-Granato is a pediatric resident at Mayo Clinic and member of the ABC News Medical Unit. Cobern, MD, MPH, board-certified in pediatrics and general preventive medicine, is a medical fellow of the ABC News Medical Unit. 5 things to know about measles originally appeared on
