Passover Hotel Check-In May Require Vaccination Proof

Stay home or immunize early, is a calculation being made by thousands of religious Jews who will be filling hotels for Passover for the next 8 days. 

With the upcoming Passover holiday, which begins the evening of April 19, 2019, and ends the evening of April 27th, there may be many opportunities for the measles virus to spread, said a Virginia Department of Health website. 

This year’s Passover program organizers are trying to make sure that their clientele isn’t carrying the measles virus, reported Ben Sales with The Times of Israel. 

Every year, kosher caterers and tourism companies rent out entire hotels for the Passover holiday, providing guests with food, religious services, and classes. 

“We notified all the people that if they are not taking shots, they cannot come to our hotel,” said Rabbi Motty Katz, manager of the Katz Pesach program at the Long Island Hilton in Huntington, New York.”   

Rabbi Yitzchok Neger, one of the managers of the Passover program at the Wyndham Golf Resort in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, said he was “pretty confident we don’t have any virus or contagious situation where we are, with the guests we have.” 

“A lot of our people are coming from places where the rabbis sent a letter to everyone that they should be vaccinated.” 

More than 100,000 Jews worldwide, mostly Orthodox, will be celebrating the holiday at a Passover hotel, according to TotallyJewishTravel, a website that serves as a clearinghouse for Passover vacation bookings. 

Asking guests not to come if they are not immunized is the best approach for hotels, said L’via Weisinger, a member of Emes, Hebrew for “truth,” a new group of Orthodox nurses that encourages vaccination. 

“You don’t have a right as a citizen to go to a ‘Pesach’ hotel,” Weisinger said. “It’s private, so if they say ‘Unless you’re vaccinated, you’re not welcome,’ there’s nothing wrong with that.” 

The 2019 measles outbreak has now reached 555 cases, reported the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on April 11th.   

The #1 measles hot-spot is the state of New York, which has reported over 462 measles cases during the 2018-2019 outbreak. 

To slow down the measles outbreak in New York, government leaders have issued a ‘State of Emergency’ in Rockland County and issued a ‘Commissioner's Order", threatening to close private schools and/or issue $1,000 fines. 

New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said in a press release, “We’ve seen a large increase in the number of people vaccinated as Passover approaches.” 

Measles is a highly contagious disease and can cause pneumonia, encephalitis, and death. 

Measles is easily preventable with the safe and effective MMR vaccine. 

While the MMR vaccine is the safest and most effective method of preventing measles, it is only 97 percent effective, so population-wide immunity is a key component to protecting our most at risk New Yorkers from measles. 

New Yorkers who believe they were exposed to measles or who have symptoms of measles should contact their healthcare provider before seeking care to prevent exposure to other patients. 

MMR vaccinations services are offered by most pharmacies in the USA. Vaccine discounts and financial assistance can be found at Vaccine Discounts. 

Relevant Links:  CDC vaccination schedules, CDC vaccine price list, international travel alerts, and report vaccine side effects.