Summer camp is newest front in battle with measles outbreak

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Summer camp is the newest front in the battle to contain the worst U.S. measles outbreak in nearly three decades .

Vaccinations are being mandated this summer for campers and staff in several counties north of New York City that annually fill up with kids from the Orthodox Jewish communities that have been hit hardest by measles.

The state eliminated the religious exemption Thursday to vaccine requirements for schoolchildren. But even before that, individual counties mandated the measles vaccine or proof of immunity at all day camps and overnight camps. Ulster County announced a mandate this week following similar actions from Rockland, Sullivan and Orange counties.

There have been more than 1,000 measles cases reported this year in the U.S. Many are in ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn and suburban Rockland County.