Kiryas Joel Yeshiva To Pay $150,000 For Allowing Unvaccinated Students To Attend
UTA of Kiryas Joel-Markowitz Boys agrees to pay fines levied by New York State's Department of Health
Today is a short post following-up on a news item I brought to your attention on Friday.
Shtetl recently broke a story about a school in Kiryas Joel that faces up to $61 Million in fines for allowing unvaccinated children to attend school at the height of the (still ongoing) COVID-19 pandemic.
A hearing between representatives of the yeshiva and the Department of Health was scheduled for February 14th, 2024, but was not held.
I followed-up with the New York State Department of Health to get a word on what the situation was.
In a statement provided to The Monroe Gazette, New York State Department of Health Public Information Officer Erin Clary said, “Allowing children to attend school without proof of the required immunizations puts lives in jeopardy and undermines the system that exists to protect public health. The Department of Health takes this issue seriously and will investigate and use all enforcement tools at its disposal against those who have been found to have committed such violations.”
The Department of Health has confirmed this case, involving UTA of Kiryas Joel-Markowitz Boys, is the only such one involving a yeshiva within the Town of Palm Tree, which hosts the village of Kiryas Joel.
The Department of Health added:
The New York State Department of Health has issued a $300,000 penalty as part of a Stipulation and Order signed by a representative from UTA of Kiryas Joel-Markowitz Boys, a school that permitted more than 120 children to attend school for more than 100 days without the proper documentation demonstrating they had received the required immunizations set forth in PHL § 2164.
The February 14 hearing did not take place as a settlement was reached. The school admitted to the alleged violations, and as part of the settlement, has agreed to pay $150,000 of the $300,000 monetary penalty. The remainder of the penalty is suspended contingent upon the school achieving and maintaining full compliance with the Public Health Law, associated regulations, and all terms in in the Stipulation and Order.
I’ve made my pro-vaccine stance pretty clear here on this news letter, so it’s great to hear someone is looking after the health and wellbeing of the children in Kiryas Joel
In the Town of Monroe, Supervisor Cardone won’t allow questions to be asked about COVID-19 and vaccinations at Town Board meetings because he’s deemed them to be “political.”
It’s worth noting that, despite both political parties and the corporate media pretending otherwise, the pandemic is not over.
According to the World Health Organization, there were over 11,000 deaths between December 2023 and January of 2024, with more than half of those deaths occurring here in the United States. In the past three months, nearly 1,500 people in New York State have died from COVID-19.
Unfortunately, because of a decrease in testing and reporting, those numbers may be much, much higher.
If you’re able to get vaccinated, you should.
And if you’re over 65, the CDC is recommending that you get a COVID-19 booster which has recently been updated.
As the Department of Health shared with me while investigating this story, “The U.S. has the most effective vaccine supply in its history with systems in place that ensure vaccines are safe. Vaccination is the best protection from preventable serious diseases.”
People can learn more about vaccine safety here.
I’ll catch you tomorrow.