Send this page to someone via email The lawyer for a Kentucky high school student who wasn’t allowed to participate in school activities because he wasn’t vaccinated for chickenpox says his client has now contracted the illness. Attorney Christopher Wiest of Covington told The Kentucky Enquirer that 18-year-old Jerome Kunkel came down with chickenpox last week. Wiest says Kunkel is “fine” and “a little itchy.” Story continues below advertisement After an outbreak, students who weren’t vaccinated were ordered to stay away from Our Lady of the Assumption Church school and activities. Kunkel sued the Northern Kentucky Health Department, claiming the vaccine is against his religious beliefs, and others joined in. A judge last month denied the request to return to activities. Wiest said Tuesday about half his clients have contracted chickenpox since filing the case. He said he told parents that a child’s getting chickenpox would be the quickest way to resolve the case, since a bout of chickenpox confers immunity. WATCH: What are chickenpox parties? 0:47 What are chickenpox parties? What are chickenpox parties? – Mar 22, 2019 The Health Department said in a news release Wednesday that Wiest’s statement was “alarming and disappointing.” The department said people who contract chickenpox can expose others to the virus before the disease becomes apparent. Story continues below advertisement “While the tactic Wiest suggests may provide an individual with future immunity from chickenpox, this infected person can easily spread the virus to other, unsuspecting people, including those particularly vulnerable to this potentially life-threatening infection,” the department said. READ MORE: Big drop in chickenpox cases after Ontario began public vaccine program Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin said in March during an interview on Bowling Green radio station WKCT that he deliberately exposed his children to chickenpox so they would catch the disease and become immune. The Republican governor said parents worried about chickenpox should have their children vaccinated but suggested that government shouldn’t mandate the vaccination. Kentucky requires that children entering kindergarten be vaccinated for chickenpox, but parents may seek religious exemptions or provide proof that a child already had the disease.<doc-sep>The Kentucky high school senior at the center of a vaccination lawsuit has allegedly come down with the chicken pox. The teen’s lawyer reportedly told the Cincinnati Enquirer that his client was diagnosed with the virus last week and that “he’s a little itchy.” The diagnosis comes weeks after 18-year-old Jerome Kunkel first landed in the headlines for the lawsuit he filed against his state’s health department, which had barred him from participating in his school’s basketball season over his refusal to get the chickenpox vaccine. PARENTS' PLEA TO HELP INFANT BORN WITH BRAIN STICKING OUT OF NOSE The rule was instated after a chickenpox outbreak took place at the Assumption Academy, where Kunkel is enrolled, which is associated with Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church in Union. After 32 students came down with the illness, the health department said that unvaccinated students were not allowed to attend school until 21 days after the onset of a rash on the last student or staff member. Kunkel claimed the vaccine was “derived from aborted fetal cells,” which he considers “immoral illegal and sinful.” While some Catholics take issue with the fact that some vaccines were derived from cells taken from two fetuses who were aborted in the 1960s, the National Catholic Bioethics Center notes that a tiny sample of those cells were multiplied to create viruses that were, in turn, used to develop vaccines, and that today’s vaccines are far removed from those cells because the cell lines have grown independently. MOM SUING ETSY, TEETHING NECKLACE MAKER OVER SON'S 2016 DAYCARE STRANGULATION DEATH Two dozen other students joined Kunkel’s lawsuit. His lawyer, Christopher Wiest, told the news outlet that about half of his clients had come down with the contagious virus since the filing. The virus is a high contagious illness that can cause itchy, blister-like rash on patients that first appears on the chest, back and face. It can be serious in babies, adolescents, people with weakened immune system, adults and pregnant women. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the best way to prevent the virus is to receive the vaccine. Fox News' Anna Hopkins contributed to this report.<doc-sep>A northern Kentucky teenager banned from school for refusing the chickenpox vaccination due to his religious beliefs has come down with the childhood malady, his attorney said Wednesday. Jerome Kunkel, a student at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Assumption Academy, first started showing chickenpox symptoms last week and hopes to have recovered by next week, a lawyer for the 18-year-old told NBC News. Kunkel and his family have no regrets about their decision to not be vaccinated. "These are deeply held religious beliefs, they're sincerely held beliefs," family attorney Christopher Wiest said. "From their perspective, they always recognized they were running the risk of getting it, and they were OK with it." Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics Some ultraconservative Catholics oppose chickenpox vaccinations because it was developed in the 1960s from cell lines of two aborted fetuses. A chickenpox outbreak at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Assumption Academy in March prompted state health officials to order unvaccinated students to stay away from school. Kunkel unsuccessfully challenged the state ban in court. Now that Kunkel has had the chickenpox, and is thus immune to it, he hopes to be back in class soon for the first time since March 15. Kunkel said he's looking forward to his recovery and his life's getting back to normal. "Thing are somewhat normal except ... for homework I got to catch up with," he told WLWT, an NBC affiliate in Cincinnati. Had state health officials not intervened, the family's lawyer, Wiest said, his client would have had the chickenpox earlier this year. "The ban was stupid," Wiest said. "He could have contracted this in March and been back to school by now." Once the banned student can show that all of his chickenpox lesions have scabbed over, he'll be allowed to return to school, according to Doug Hogan, spokesman for Kentucky's Cabinet for Health and Family Services. State health officials also lashed out at Wiest, accusing him of "downplaying the dangers of the chickenpox." "Encouraging the spread of an acute infection disease in a community demonstrates a callous disregard for the health and safety of friends, family, neighbors and unsuspecting members of the general public," according to a statement by Laura Brinson, a spokeswoman for the Northern Kentucky Health Department. Earlier this year, opponents of mandatory vaccinations seemed to pick up support from Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, who admitted he's exposed all nine of his children to chickenpox. “We found a neighbor that had it, and I went and made sure every one of them got it. They were miserable for a few days and they all turned out fine," Bevin told WKCT, a radio station in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in March. Despite his unorthodox actions, Bevin urged parents to get their kids vaccinated.<doc-sep>
The unvaccinated Kentucky teenager who sued after he was banned from school during a chickenpox outbreak now has chicken pox. The attorney representing Jerome Kunkel, an 18-year-old senior at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart/Assumption Academy in Walton, Ky., told NBC News on Wednesday that Kunkel began showing symptoms of chickenpox last week. The Kunkel family does not regret their decision to be unvaccinated, their attorney Christopher Wiest told the outlet. ADVERTISEMENT "These are deeply held religious beliefs, they're sincerely held beliefs," Weist said. “From their perspective, they always recognized they were running the risk of getting it, and they were OK with it." NBC News reported that some ultraconservative Catholics oppose chickenpox vaccination because it was developed in the 1960s from cell lines of two aborted fetuses. Northern Kentucky Health Department determined that unvaccinated students may not attend school or participate in school activities, such as sports, amid a chickenpox outbreak that affected over 30 students earlier this year. Kunkel’s family filed a lawsuit accusing the health department of religious discrimination after the varsity basketball player was barred from playing. The chickenpox vaccine is among those required for all children entering kindergarten in Kentucky, but the state allows vaccine exemptions for religious beliefs. Boone County Circuit Judge James R. Schrand, however, upheld the health department’s right to impose bans in the event of an outbreak. Wiest called the ban “stupid," adding that Kunkel "could have contracted this in March and been back to school by now." Kunkel has been out of school since March 15 and is hoping to return now that he has been exposed to chickenpox and will be immune to it, Wiest said. Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) made headlines in March when he said he deliberately exposed his nine children to chickenpox rather than vaccinating them. "They got the chickenpox on purpose because we found a neighbor that had it and I went and made sure every one of my kids was exposed to it, and they got it. They had it as children. They were miserable for a few days, and they all turned out fine," Bevin said. The governor also expressed skepticism about state-mandated vaccinations. "Why are we forcing kids to get it? If you are worried about your child getting chickenpox or whatever else, vaccinate your child," Bevin said. "But for some people, and for some parents, for some reason they choose otherwise. This is America. The federal government should not be forcing this upon people. They just shouldn’t." Kunkel’s case of chickenpox comes amid a national discussion on vaccination exemptions as a measles outbreak spreads across the country. There have been 764 confirmed cases of measles in at least 23 states between Jan. 1 and May 3, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That is the greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since 1994 and since measles was declared eliminated in 2000.