Albany, NY – Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz issued the following statement regarding the misappropriation of Holocaust-era symbols to promote anti-vaxxer causes:

“I am truly sickened by the horrifying rhetoric that has emerged among anti-vaxxers. On my own social media pages, I have received numerous comments of this highly offensive nature and I am grateful to the Anti-Defamation League for speaking out against this growing problem. To compare school vaccine requirements to genocide is intentionally inflammatory and goes beyond what our society should be willing to accept in regular discourse. In fact, it’s disgusting.

“Six million Jews and millions of others were killed in history’s worst genocide. The false comparison diminishes the significance of the Holocaust. The use of Star of David as a rallying image for anti-vaxxers is morally repugnant and dilutes the significance of what it means to many people of Jewish heritage and faith.

“We cannot let this ugly propaganda deter us from keeping our children safe. Vaccine hesitancy is one of the top threats to global health, and there are active outbreaks of measles in our own backyards. We cannot wait for someone to die before we take action.”