Ignorance Over Vaccines Threatens the Public in KY

A Kentucky student is suing his local health department after it barred students who aren't immunized against the chickenpox from attending school and canceled extracurricular activities during an outbreak that has affected 32 people.

Jerome Kunkel, a senior at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart/Assumption Academy in Walton, Kentucky, refuses to get the chickenpox vaccine, citing his Christian faith.  He and his father allege that he's being discriminated against because of religious beliefs.

The school's sports and extracurricular activities, have been canceled to avoid spreading the illness to other schools and places.  Jerome Kunkel told reporters that he's upset over the health department's decision, especially because it affects his basketball season.  "The fact that I can't finish my senior year of basketball, like our last couple games is pretty devastating. I mean you go through four years of high school, playing basketball, but you look forward to your senior year," he said.

The health department issued a statement: "The recent actions taken by the Northern Kentucky Health Department regarding the chickenpox outbreak at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart/Assumption Academy was in direct response to a public health threat and was an appropriate and necessary response to prevent further spread of this contagious illness."

Bill Kunkel, Jerome's father told reporters that he doesn't "believe" in the chickenpox vaccine and that "they're trying to push it on us." He said that they object to the particular vaccine because he "believed" it was derived from "aborted fetuses."

The Catholic Church claims that here are a number of vaccines made from descendent cells of aborted fetuses dating back several decades,   In fact, the chickenpox vaccine is not derived from aborted fetuses.

In addition, the Kunkel family is not up to speed on church catechisms.  "One is morally free to use the vaccine regardless of its historical association with abortion. The reason is that the risk to public health outweighs the legitimate concern about the origins of the vaccine," according to the National Catholic Bioethics Center, which derives its messages from the teachings of the Catholic Church.