One extra consequence of the rise in cases of vaccine-preventable diseases we have been seeing lately, in addition to the fact that more kids are getting sick, is that we are seeing more kids being quarantined and kept out of school.
“The parents of 42 children affected by the ban at the school, the Green Meadow Waldorf School, sued the Rockland County health department, asking a federal judge to issue an injunction to allow the children to return.”
Parents Wanted Their Unvaccinated Children in School, but a Judge Said No.
And in a few cases, we are seeing lawsuits trying to get some of these kids, mostly intentionally unvaccinated kids, back into school.
Why Is a Kentucky Teen Who Refused to Get Vaccinated Suing His School?
While most outbreaks are related to measles, in Kentucky, a large outbreak of chickenpox at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart/Assumption Academy in Walton has led to the quarantine of a number of unvaccinated students.
One student, a senior and the starting center on the school basketball team, is suing to get him back in school.
“The Kunkels filed their lawsuit Thursday in the Boone County Circuit Court alleging that the Northern Kentucky Health Department had violated Jerome’s First Amendment rights. Accepting the chickenpox vaccine would be “immoral, illegal and sinful,” they said, according to their Catholic beliefs. The lawsuit also alleges that the health department violated due process when officials enacted the extracurricular and school attendance bans without declaring an official emergency, which would have triggered the involvement of the state legislature.”
God, country and chickenpox: How an outbreak entangled one school in a vaccine showdown
So they are actually suing the health department, not his school, to get him back into school…
Wait a minute though?
Is the Catholic Church against vaccines?
“Since there is no Catholic teaching that the use of these vaccines is sinful, schools cannot allow Catholic parents to claim a religious exemption from the requirement of immunization.”
National Catholic Bioethics Center on Vaccines and Exemptions Granted by Schools
Are they against the chickenpox vaccine?
“One is morally free to use the vaccine regardless of its historical association with abortion. The reason is that the risk to public health, if one chooses not to vaccinate, outweighs the legitimate concern about the origins of the vaccine. This is especially important for parents, who have a moral obligation to protect the life and health of their children and those around them.”
National Catholic Bioethics Center
No, they aren’t, which is why most Catholics vaccinate and protect their kids.
“In the event that the county health department or state health department declares an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease for which proof of immunity for a child cannot be provided, he or she may not be allowed to attend childcare or school for up to three (3) weeks, or until the risk period ends.”
Kentucky Parent or Guardian Declination on Religious Grounds to Required Immunizaitons
A judge will have to decide the merits of the case, but from a moral standpoint, it seems like they are on shaky ground.
More on Quarantines for Intentionally Unvaccinated Kids
- VAXOPEDIA – The Catholic Church and Vaccines
- VAXOPEDIA – National Catholic Bioethics Center on Vaccines
- VAXOPEDIA – The Moral Responsibility of the Anti-Vaccine Movement
- VAXOPEDIA – Religious Exemptions to Vaccination
- VAXOPEDIA – The History of Vaccine Exemptions
- Parents Wanted Their Unvaccinated Children in School, but a Judge Said No.
- God, country and chickenpox: How an outbreak entangled one school in a vaccine showdown
- National Catholic Bioethics Center FAQ on the Use of Vaccines
- You Can Be the Pro-Life Parent of a Fully Vaccinated Child
- Catholics urged to remember ‘common good’ in vaccine debate
- Religion and vaccinations – a review of the current knowledge
- The Disneyland measles outbreak continues apace, and a woman refuses quarantine