Do Orthodox Jews Vaccinate Their Children?

Every September I hand my kids' school an up-to-date immunization record, same as my mother did for me. So when the 2018-2019 measles outbreak hit Brooklyn and I saw reporters standing outside yeshivos and headlines suggesting Orthodox Jews as a group oppose vaccination, it didn't match the world I actually live in. That framing was wrong — and it was damaging.

The Mainstream Position

Orthodox Judaism overwhelmingly supports vaccination. The reasons are halachic (legal-religious), not just practical:

Pikuach nefesh — the obligation to preserve life is the most important principle in Jewish law. It overrides almost every other commandment. Vaccination protects life — both the individual's and the community's.

Rabbinic authorities whose positions have been cited in support of vaccination include:

• Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv (the leading Litvish posek of his generation), whose position was that one may rely on the consensus of the medical establishment
• Rabbi Hershel Schachter (a leading Modern Orthodox posek), who has spoken plainly in favor of vaccinating
• The Rabbinical Council of America (Modern Orthodox)
• Agudath Israel of America (Haredi/Yeshivish umbrella organization)
• Multiple Hasidic rebbes

The OU (Orthodox Union) and the RCA (Rabbinical Council of America) have issued explicit statements supporting vaccination and rejecting religious exemptions based on Jewish law.

The 2018-2019 Outbreak

What actually happened: anti-vaccine literature (much of it produced by non-Jewish anti-vax groups) was distributed in parts of Williamsburg and Borough Park. A small number of families — concentrated in specific schools and neighborhoods — refused to vaccinate their children. Measles, a disease that had been virtually eliminated, returned.

The response from inside the community was fast and unambiguous. Rabbis announced from the bima that vaccinating was required; our schools sent letters home and started turning away unvaccinated children at the door; clinics and pop-up vaccination drives ran in the neighborhoods; and New York City eventually mandated vaccination for the affected ZIP codes.

The outbreak was contained. Vaccination rates, which had been above 90% in most Orthodox communities, returned to near-universal levels.

The Nuance

The pocket of resistance was driven by:

• Misinformation (anti-vax pamphlets, some of them in Yiddish, circulated through community channels)
• Distrust of government (a cultural trait in some Orthodox Jewish communities with historical roots)
• Social media (even in communities with limited internet use, WhatsApp groups spread anti-vax content)
• A small number of sympathetic figures who lent anti-vax views a veneer of religious legitimacy

But none of this came from halacha. There is no source in Jewish law for refusing a vaccine that saves lives — and the poskim that people in these neighborhoods actually follow said so plainly: vaccination is required.

For Healthcare Providers

If you treat Orthodox Jewish patients:

• Assume they vaccinate unless told otherwise
• If a patient expresses vaccine hesitancy, cite rabbinic authorities — this carries more weight than CDC statistics in some communities
• Partner with the trusted community institutions people here already rely on — your local Hatzalah chapter, respected local rabbis, and the pediatricians families already see
• Do not assume that one family's refusal represents community consensus

For deeper guidance on caring for Orthodox patients, see our page for healthcare providers.

The Bottom Line

Orthodox Jews vaccinate their children. The rare exceptions are exactly that — rare, non-representative, and condemned by our own leadership. Framing the outbreak as an "Orthodox Jewish issue" reinforced old stereotypes and missed the real story: a community that answered a crisis by doubling down on the science its own rabbis endorsed.