It never ends

Student who refused chickenpox vaccine sues Kentucky health department for banning him from school

A Northern Kentucky student is suing the local health department after he was told he couldn't come to school or play sports because he hasn't received the chickenpox vaccine amid an outbreak at the school.

Jerome Kunkel, 18, is suing the Northern Kentucky Health Department and its employees because the department said students who haven't been vaccinated need to stay out of school until three weeks after the onset of a chickenpox rash on the last sick student or teacher, the department said.

But Kunkel's father said the family's Christian faith keeps his son from getting vaccinated.

“I don't believe in that vaccine at all and they are trying to push it on us,” Bill Kunkle said, according to NBC affiliate WLWT.

The health department announced the policy Feb. 21 in a letter to parents, citing an outbreak of chickenpox at the school.