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Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin assured that he was sure his nine children were exposed to chickenpox and were getting the disease instead of giving them a vaccine.
"They had it in their childhood, they were miserable for a few days and they all did well," said Bevin in an interview with WKCT, a Bowling Green radio station.
Bevin and his wife, Glenna, have nine children between the ages of 5 and 16, according to his campaign's website.
The governor says he supports parents who choose to vaccinate their children and those who refuse to do so. But he said the decision should not belong to the government.
"It's America," he said. "The federal government should not impose this on people, they just should not."
CNN asked Bevin for comments.
Varicella
is a highly contagious disease that causes rashes, itching, fatigue and fever, according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can spread by touching or breathing viral particles. This can be particularly serious for babies, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems.
Bevin's remarks come several days after a teenager in Kentucky
continued his local health service,
who had temporarily banned students who are not immune to chickenpox from going to school after an outbreak in a Catholic school.
32 cases of chickenpox have been reported.
The teenager and his father claim that he is discriminated against because of his religious beliefs. Some Catholics worry about vaccines derived from cell lines associated with abortion.
The Northern Kentucky Department of Health argued that the "ban" was an appropriate and necessary response to prevent the spread of this contagious disease.
Chickenpox has not disappeared since the introduction of the vaccine in the United States in 1995, but every year more than 3.5 million people are prevented by the chickenpox vaccine, said the CDC.
Initially, a single dose of the vaccine was recommended to children. But when the experts realized that a small percentage of children had not acquired solid immunity after the first dose, the recommendations were changed. Two doses are currently recommended: one at the age of 1 year and one second at about 4 years. The two-dose vaccination program has resulted in fewer outbreaks, according to the CDC.
The-CNN-Wire
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