Yiddish newspaper hits anti-vaxxers hard amid measles outbreak in Brooklyn

A Brooklyn-based Yiddish-language newspaper that serves the Orthodox Jewish community published an editorial criticizing so-called anti-vaxxers amid a measles outbreak in Williamsburg.

The headline reads, "Senseless! Heartless! Torah-Less and Reckless."

Samuel Stern, the editor of Der Yid, told FOX 5 that the response to the editorial, published in Yiddish and English, has been positive and negative.

About 80,000 members of the Orthodox Jewish community read Der Yid. Stern said the controversy over vaccinations is becoming a worldwide issue.

On Tuesday, city health officials and Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency and ordered everyone who lives and works in four Williamsburg ZIP codes to get vaccinated against the measles within 48 hours or face a $1,000 fine.

Stern, who wrote the article, 95 percent of the community did get vaccinated but a small percent is anti-vaccination and refuses to do so. He said a worldwide conspiracy spreads myths about vaccines.

"A small number of stubborn parents still know better," the editorial reads. "We are not doctors we haven't studied medicine or statistics like those geniuses warning you about the vaccines but we do know whom we trust when there is a serious health issue."

Stern said the newspaper has been writing about the measles outbreak for months and telling the community to "stop the foolishness" and get vaccinated.