Catholic Student Who Objects To Chicken Pox Vaccination Requirement Sues

ABC News reports on a state court lawsuit filed last week against the Northern Kentucky Health Department by a high school student who has religious objections to receiving the chicken pox vaccine. There have been 32 cases of chicken pox since February at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Elementary School.  To stop the spread, health officials have, among other things, ordered the related Assumption Academy to bar all students who are not vaccinated or otherwise immune from the disease from participating in extra-curricular activities.  Subsequently health officials ordered the schools to exclude all non-immune students entirely from school until the spread ends, and to end other outside activities until then.  Eighteen year old Jerome Kunkel and his family, who are conservative Catholics, object to the vaccine because it was originally developed in the 1960's using cell lines from two aborted fetuses.