New York City Health Department officials ordered Yeshiva of Central Queens (YCQ) to closed its doors on Monday over a violation of the city’s measles vaccination order.
The school, located in Flushing, allegedly failed to prevent unvaccinated students from entering the building and attending classes.
This is the ninth Jewish school to be closed for a violation of the city’s measles vaccination order. It’s also the first New York City school outside the borough of Brooklyn to be shut down since the start of the measles outbreak in October.
Last week the total number of confirmed cases of measles in the city reached a new high of 498. Of those, 399 cases have been diagnosed in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg.
“In order to prevent outbreaks in new areas of the city we need parents to get their children vaccinated and schools to exclude children who are not up to date with the measles vaccine. We continue to urge un-vaccinated New Yorkers to get vaccinated against measles as soon as possible,” Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said in a statement.