Inside STAT: What a Grand Rabbi’s request might teach us about combating vaccine hesitancy

THE REFUAH HEALTH CENTER IN ROCKLAND COUNTY, N.Y. (ERICA YOON FOR STAT)

In November, a neurologist at Mayo Clinic got an email out of the blue. It was from a man in Rockland County, N.Y. He was concerned about the measles outbreak there and was wondering how to address vaccine hesitancy in his ultra-Orthodox community. The question is an important one, especially in 2019, when measles numbers are at the highest they’ve been in 25 years — but might seem like a strange query for an expert in strokes and aneurysms. Yet the story of how it arrived in the neurologist’s inbox — from the Grand Rabbi of a Hasidic sect by way of a trusted community leader — might just help provide the beginnings of an answer. STAT's Eric Boodman has more here.