Parents of Unvaccinated Children Sue Rockland County – Judge Rules in Their Favor and Ends the Ban

Two lawsuits were filed this week by parents of unvaccinated children in Rockland County, where unvaccinated children had been banned from public places, including schools and daycare centers. Earlier today (Friday, April 5th), Supreme Court Judge Rolf Thorsen sided with the parents and issued a temporary injunction against County Supervisor Ed Day's emergency order, effectively ending the ban. Robert Brum of the Rockland/Westchester Journal News reported: "A judge today halted Rockland County Executive Ed Day's emergency declaration barring children who are unvaccinated against measles from schools, places of worship and other public areas. Acting state Supreme Court Judge Rolf Thorsen's injunction stated that the 166 cases cited by the county since the measles outbreak began last October did not rise to the level of an epidemic or constitute a disaster. Day's reliance on executive law in issuing the emergency declaration "may have been misplaced," the decision stated. Thorsen agreed with the families who sued the county when they said their children would continue to miss school, and the parents would continue to incur monetary expenses as a result of the order. The families asserted that the children posed no threat to other children at a school where there had been no reported cases of the measles."