I was meaning to highlight their resistance to intervention by the local governments whose jurisdiction they do their best to ignore.
BTW, you should look at this horrible anti-vax booklet (linked to from the Gothamist piece) that’s been circulated among these communities:
https://issuu.com/peachmoms/docs/the_vaccine_safety_handbook...
Ugh.
You are correct! I was attempting to add additional context and history to the Orthodox communities that are in Upstate NY. It's a long and complicated relationship that these tight-knit communities have had with their neighbors. Not unlike the complex relationships that the Amish have with their neighbors.
> The point of my comment is that Judaism itself is not the reason these orthodox communities are rejecting vaccines
I would also agree with this. From my very outsider perspective, it seems as if this is particular to just those Orthodox communities in Upstate NY, not to Orthodox Judaism in general. A very cursory google search turns up no issues with vaccinations in the Orthodox communities in New York City itself, not too far away.
The point of my comment is that Judaism itself is not the reason these orthodox communities are rejecting vaccines, unlike some other communities/religions that have specific cultural or religious objections to medical care.