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WALTON, Kentucky – Two months into the legal process, an unvaccinated teenager fell ill, his lawyer said on Wednesday.
Jerome Kunkel sued the local health department because of a policy temporarily prohibiting non-immune students against chickenpox from taking classes and extracurricular activities at the Walton Academy of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart / Assumption. Kentucky.
The high school student refused the vaccine, citing his faith. Kunkel's father, Bill, told CNN affiliate WLWT that he was opposed to the vaccine because he thought it came from "aborted fetuses".
The chickenpox vaccine was created using fetal cells that came to an end in the early 1960s.
Kunkel contracted chickenpox last week and recovered, his lawyer Christopher Wiest told CNN by phone on Wednesday. Kunkel returned to school Wednesday.
"Jerome is in catch-up mode," said Wiest. "It feels like they've somehow ruined his senior year."
Kunkel is no longer in school since mid-March, said Wiest.
The North Kentucky Department of Health announced a policy in March after a chickenpox outbreak hit 32 people, or 13% of the student population, at school. Students who were not vaccinated or who were not immunized were asked to stay out of school for at least 21 days after the last case of the virus, the Department of Health said. health.
Kunkel filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Health's decision, mainly because it affected his basketball season.
"The fact that I can not finish my first year of basketball, as in our last two games, is rather devastating. I mean, you spent four years in high school playing basketball, but you can not wait to finish your last year, "he told CNN affiliate WLWT in March.
According to the judge's decision obtained by CNN affiliate WXIX, none of the basketball team members were vaccinated against chicken pox, the school principal told a health official.
Only 18 percent of school students are fully immunized, said a school official at the local health department.
A Kentucky judge dismissed Kunkel's request to prevent the health department from enforcing its school ban and its activities in April.
Kunkel's lawyer said that preventing students from going to school was not enough to contain the illness.
"Their ban did not stop these kids from going to church together," Wiest said Wednesday. "Their ban will be ineffective from the start. The fastest way to get them back to school is to do it naturally. "
The Kentucky Department of Health has expressed concern over Wiest's claims that students were contracting the virus to become immune.
"Encouraging the spread of an acute infectious disease in a community demonstrates total disregard for the health and safety of unsuspecting friends, family, neighbors and the general public," the department said Wednesday in a statement. . "A person who has contracted chicken pox can be contagious until 2 days before presenting the rash associated with the virus."
Preventing students from going to school and extracurricular activities can help prevent the spread of the disease. They "are designed to prevent unvaccinated people who have been exposed to the virus from contaminating the general public while they are contagious," the statement said.
The Department of Health was also concerned that the comments would minimize the seriousness of the dangers of the chickenpox virus, known as chicken pox.
Chickenpox is a highly contagious disease that causes rashes, itching, fever and fatigue, according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus spreads by contact with infected individuals.
The CDC recommends not to intentionally expose children to chickenpox in the hope that they contract the disease.
When asked if Kunkel regretted not having been vaccinated, Wiest said, "They are people of deep and constant faith, endowed with strong religious conviction." At no time do they regret not having been vaccinated.
"They believe that it is the good cause. They regret what the health department did. "
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