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An ultra-Orthodox rabbi falsely described the measles outbreak among Jews as part of an elaborate plan concocted by Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York to deflect attention from “more serious” diseases brought by Central American migrants. A pediatrician questioned whether Jews were being intentionally given “bad lots” of vaccines that ended up giving children a new strain of the virus. And Andrew Wakefield, the British doctor whose study linking measles vaccines with autism was widely discredited and condemned, appeared via Skype to offer an almost apocalyptic vision of a world in which vaccines were giving rise to deadlier immunization-resistant diseases. (de Freytas-Tamura, 5/14)

Hundreds of people who oppose vaccination requirements rallied Tuesday at the State Capitol, decrying a bill that would eliminate an exemption to the rules based on a family’s religious beliefs. The measure has been introduced for years but gained new urgency amid the country’s largest measles outbreak since 1994, said the bill’s sponsors, state Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz and state Sen. Brad Hoylman. Both men were booed in absentia during a two-hour rally that included Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Del Bigtree, who produced the antivaccine documentary “Vaxxed.” (Vielkind and West, 5/14)

Hundreds of parents and vaccine skeptics have called on New York lawmakers not to narrow existing exemptions to the state childhood immunization rules. The group stood in the rain outside the state Capitol Tuesday urging lawmakers to protect a state law that permits people not to vaccinate their children for religious reasons. (5/14)

Critics blasted a decision by Oregon lawmakers that killed a bill aimed at getting more children vaccinated for measles and other preventable diseases in order pass a tax on large businesses, saying it jeopardized public health. Despite passing the House and having the necessary votes in the Senate, the measure to make it harder for families to opt out of required vaccinations was nixed as part of a deal announced Monday to end a week-long Republican walkout over a multibillion school funding tax. (Zimmerman, 5/14)