In response to the 2018 measles outbreak centered in Orthodox Jewish communities in the New York area, a group of OJNA nurses developed the Vaccine Task Force that aimed to address vaccine hesitancy and misinformation related to vaccine safety. The group provided evidence-based vaccine education to groups of women in intimate settings and worked on the development of a professional educational publication for widespread dissemination.
The work of these OJNA nurses has garnered much positive media attention and their work has been featured in many media outlets to include The New Yorker, CBS Good Morning, The New York Times, CNN, BBC, Kveller, and more. This work has also been acknowledged and praised by the NYC Department of Health, NY State American Academy of Pediatrics, and many frum physicians.
As the work of the Vaccine Task Force continued to develop, their scope grew beyond the OJNA umbrella. As of April 2019, this project is under the auspices of EMES Initiative led by former OJNA president Blima Marcus.
