Are New York Hospitals Refusing to Release Newborns to Unvaccinated Parents?

No.

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A widely shared Facebook post claims that New York hospitals are “refusing to release new born babies” to unvaccinated parents. Another viral Instagram post makes similar claims, saying that “NYU Langone and other hospitals in New York and Long Island” are not releasing babies from the NICU to unvaccinated parents. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CUiFBwFFTwO

This is a false claim. 

A representative from the New York State Department of Health stated in an email to the Dispatch Fact Check: “The New York State Department of Health is deeply disturbed by the grossly inaccurate messages being spread on social media regarding the false claim that there’s a prohibition on parents/guardians taking a baby home from the hospital based upon vaccination status.”

The spokesperson added: “[T]here is simply no truth to these claims. This is part of a larger dangerous misinformation campaign. This is why we continue to urge New Yorkers to please ignore the fiction and follow the science: COVID-19 vaccines are both safe and effective and are the best way to prevent serious illness.”

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    It’s good to fact check claims like these and investigate why they’re false. But I’d be even more interested in learning more about how claims like this one (and other rumors) get started in the first place. Beyond simply, “a viral Facebook post says…”

    Seems to me like it would be an interesting, if sometimes frustrating, investigation.

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  2. Avatar photo
    Aylene Wright

    I had heard this rumor as well and I actually don't find it as insane as some other COVID related ones. I can imagine a concerned person looking up the NYU visitors policy and jumping to conclusions even without bad faith disinformation actors.

    There's also a rather longstanding suspicion and distrust of CPS in many communities, not just among social / religious conservatives but many socio-economically disadvantaged groups as well, that "the State is going to take our children away", that posts like these certainly play into.

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  3. Avatar photo
    Victor Clairmont

    Delusional things on Facebook!

    Release the non existent Kraken!

    Thank you foe the fact check—-

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  4. Avatar photo
    William Cotton

    You may have some paranoid delusions about this, but there are clear and present dangers with a lack of accountability for who is publishing misinformation with a global reach and we need to all be using many-to-many digital publishing platforms that can associate what is published with an individual.

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