Report: Unvaccinated KY teen who sued health department gets chickenpox

(WAVE) - The Kentucky high school student who went to court to fight his school’s efforts to slow a chickenpox outbreak has gotten the illness, according to a report.

Jerome Kunkel, 18, got chickenpox last week, his attorney told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

“He’s fine,” Wiest told the Enquirer. “He’s a little itchy.”

Kunkel, a senior at Assumption Academy in Walton, sued the Northern Kentucky Health Department for keeping him and several other students out of school due to the outbreak this year.

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Kunkel and more than 20 other students declined the chickenpox vaccine because their religious beliefs are opposed to it.

Kunkel was barred from playing basketball for his school during the controversy, which made national headlines. A judge ruled against him, but his attorney has since appealed. A ruling has not been announced in the case.