Teen files a lawsuit against his school over vaccinations

Vaccinations are one of those topics that can cause some seriously high tension. It’s the kind of subject that divides opinions as a result of how strongly people feel about the effects of the medicines. Whether on the side of for or against, there are compelling arguments that people use in order to question whether choosing either to or not to vaccinate your child.
Many people will unquestioningly choose to vaccinate their child if they know that it is going to protect them from contracting certain illnesses or diseases. However, others have questioned these medicines, believing that there is some correlation between vaccinations and other long-term health effects. The question that tends to arise is, should people have the choice to vaccinate their children, or should it be mandatory for every newborn child to be vaccinated? People have been struggling with these questions for a long time, although with the modern age of medicine, it has become an urgent question that needs a definitive answer. In between all the arguments from both sides, is the objective scientific evidence that people try to decipher.

The anti-vaccination movement has always been around

Some people feel as if the anti-vaccination movement has suddenly formed, but there has actually always been people against vaccinations ever since they were invented. A large group of people in America have banded together in order to protest for the right to refuse vaccinations for themselves and their children.

A growing number of people who are concerned with how safe vaccinations really are, and they feel as if vaccinations are being forced upon them.

Common vaccinations have been around since before 1924

By 1924 vaccinations for tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, and smallpox had become available with vaccinations for polio, typhoid, influenza, and whooping cough all being developed. Since then, other illnesses have become prevalent, causing scientists to research and develop other vaccines. Routine vaccines now include measles, polio, meningitis, HPS, and chicken pox.

These vaccinations are administered to young children and babies with the idea it will prevent the child from contracting the disease. This, in turn, prevents the disease from being passed on to a baby too young to be vaccinated. Some children will not require the chickenpox vaccine if they have already contracted it.

Jerome Kunkel refused to be vaccinated on religious grounds

Teenager Jerome Kunkel attended ‘Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Assumption Academy’ which is based in Kentucky. The school had a change of policy that required every student to be vaccinated before returning back to school.

This was a problem for student Jerome Kunkel as he felt that being vaccinated was in violation of his religious beliefs. It was important for the school to be respectful of their student’s beliefs, but they were also uncertain that they could be risking the health of all their other students. It was a tough situation for everyone involved, and it was about to get even more complicated.

Jerome chose not to be vaccinated

When Jerome went home to his parents, his father was particularly upset by the decision the school had thrust upon the teenager. Jerome sincerely felt that it was against his religious beliefs, but he still needed to attend school. His father decided he was going to support his son and urged Jerome to protest against the school’s decision by continuing to attend class.

They had no idea what was going to happen, but Jerome’s parents weren’t considering having him vaccinated. Part of the reason the school had made this ruling was because there had been more cases of measles and chickenpox outbreaks.

Jerome faced several warnings from his school

The school was being extremely strict over their decision. From the school’s perspective, they had chosen to protect their students against illness and disease. They also had to enforce their rules as, otherwise, no one would take them seriously. Of course, from Jerome’s perspective, he had to choose to go against his religious beliefs or to miss school, which was also against the school’s rules.

To him, he felt like he was in a no-win situation. However, the school issued several warnings against Jerome until they eventually suspended him for refusing to be vaccinated. This was going to cause a serious stir in the Kunkel home.

Jerome’s father sought the help of their pastor

The family are highly religious and feel as if their beliefs should be the center of their lives; their religion drives their personal choices, which rarely caused them a problem in the past. However, there were some fundamental problems they would fight to be heard on.

Jerome’s father sought out the help of their church pastor, who was ready to support the family against the school’s recent vaccination policy. Bill Kunkel, Jerome’s father, felt that Jerome was being ‘penalized because he’s a healthy child.’

They were going to sue the school

They decided that they couldn’t come to a proper agreement. After all, the school had enforced this rule, and they couldn’t back down. From the school’s perspective, they needed to make a point that they were going to stand their ground. It turns out that the Kunkels had the same intention.

The Kunkel family weren’t just going to sue the school, but they were also going to sue the Kentucky Health Department. They were furious since discovering Jerome wasn’t allowed to play on the basketball team.

Bill’s plight against the school’s ‘tyranny’

Bill Kunkel claimed that the school’s decision to refuse Jerome to attend was tyrannous and against their religion, faith, and even their country. However, the school believed they were protecting their students and were using scientific evidence to back their claim.

Chickenpox is highly contagious, which means that anyone who hasn’t contracted the disease, nor been vaccinated, are at risk from contracting and spreading it. Symptoms of Chickenpox include red, itchy, and painful spots that blister on the skin, high temperature, and feeling very unwell.

It’s worse in adults than in children

Depending on what stage of life people are in, it can either be more or less dangerous to contract chickenpox. However, many people vaccinate their children from a young age or encourage their children to mix with others, so they contract it and build immunity.

Back in the ‘90s, people encouraged this behavior. However, medical professionals explained that simply contracting the disease isn’t the problem; it’s having the disease spreading across the community. It also wasn’t considered as safe as just getting the vaccine.

It’s not about the person who contracts it

While most people might now be thinking that contracting chickenpox may sound totally fine, it’s not just the healthy or resilient children that medical professionals say they’re trying to protect. This is because chickenpox can be fatal to certain groups of people.

Young babies who are too young to be vaccinated, people with a weakened immune system, or those with the auto-immune disease are at serious risk of permanent damage or even loss of life.

The idea behind vaccination

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention officially urges people to consider being vaccinated to protect the citizens who are in danger of contracting it. The more people who are immune to the disease, the fewer can carry and spread it.

When an official body, such as a school, is presented with facts from other official research bodies, it’s hard to ignore. Especially when statistics suggest that it’s an effective way of eradicating the disease in the future.

Why the Kunkels felt they could win

While this may be the case, some people feel that it’s safer not to vaccinate their children even at the risk of the more vulnerable people but, more importantly, that they have the option to say no. The Kunkels felt that they had grounds for legal action because of the Kentucky governor, Matt Bevin.

Bevin was found saying that he didn’t vaccinate his children, he simply let his children contract it from a neighbor, claiming they were miserable for a few days, but they “turned out fine.”

It wasn’t the same argument as other anti-vaxxers

According to a variety of online sources, people who are against vaccinating their children are concerned with a few different things. The first reason they’re concerned is the lack of understanding of the ingredients.

They claim they don’t truly know the effect of every isolated element within the vaccine and feel there are cases where people have suffered severe adverse effects from being vaccinated. Some have even claimed that loved ones lost their lives as a result of being vaccinated.

In 1998 there was a ‘Green our Vaccines’ movement

A compound called ‘thimerosal’ was used in a number of vaccines. The reason for this is because it preserved the medication, making it last longer. However, it contained traces of mercury. The problem with this was that there was no evidence of any harmful side effects at the time.

However, the US public health and medical organizations listened to the citizens and reduced or eliminated the quantities of thimerosal. This was one of the first major modern anti-vaccination protests.

Celebrity anti-vaxxers elevated the movement

One celebrity in particular aided in the elevation of the anti-vaccination movement. In 1998, a British doctor researched the relationship between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination – aka MMR – and autism and bowel disease.

The research wasn’t conclusive and, according to the Measles and Rubella Initiative, nothing in the paper indicated that people with autism have it as a result of receiving vaccinations. However, this caused concern in some people, including celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy.

Since 2007 Jenny McCarthy has supported the anti-vaccination movement

Jenny McCarthy has been the voice of the anti-vaccination movement since 2007 after claiming her son developed autism after receiving the MMR vaccination. McCarthy claims she learned her information from ‘the University of Google.’

In 2011, the paper that investigated any links between MMR and autism was retracted and the British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, was discredited for publishing what was considered a medically detrimental piece of documentation. Today there is still no definitive link between MMR and autism.

The Kunkels were concerned with this link

Back in the 1960s, there were vaccines that were created using the tissue from terminated pregnancies. This means that all current vaccinations only exist as a result of the human tissue that was used to develop the vaccines initially.

Tissue from terminated pregnancies has not been used for decades since the development of vaccines, as they are now able to use other methods to produce them. This is a result of the research conducted back then.

Their religion doesn’t condone it

Due to the Kunkel’s religious beliefs, they are firmly against vaccinations because of how they were developed. They believe that it is sinful to be vaccinated as it means accepting the vaccine, which also means accepting pregnancy termination.

The family chose to appoint an attorney to represent them in court as they were determined to fight their corner when it came to their freedom of choice. Their attorney had a few things he had to say about the situation.

Their attorney defended the family’s beliefs

The attorney, Christopher Wiest discussed what he had determined about the situation. Weist expressed that these were “deeply held religious beliefs,” and he emphasizes just how sincere the family are about how they feel about vaccinations.

Weist had just had his license returned to him following a two-year suspension after reportedly being found guilty of unlawful misconduct. Their attorney carried on to explain that the family was willing to accept the risks where being unvaccinated was concerned.

The court ruled against the Kunkels

After the attorney and the Kunkels put forward their case, the court actually ruled against them, leaving the school and Kentucky Health Department victorious. The case was made for Jerome Kunkel to return to school, but this request was denied.

The judge ruled that any student who has not been vaccinated would not be able to take part in lessons or extra-curricular activities. This is because the school was trying to control an outbreak by promoting vaccinations.

Jerome had been out of school since 2015

Jerome Kunkel had been out of school since 2015 and had chosen not to be vaccinated. It was in April 2019 that the family went to court to try and overturn this rule for their son. However, until Jerome was suitably vaccinated, then he was not welcome to return.

It was estimated that, before the chickenpox vaccine was on the scene, over four million Americans would catch and suffer from the disease, including vulnerable people. That number has reduced to 12,000.

Jerome caught chickenpox

This was quite a strange conclusion for this family, since only weeks after losing the lawsuit, their son contracted the chickenpox disease. However, Jerome was not allowed to attend school, meaning he was not there to spread it to other students.

Since he has contracted the disease, he is now allowed to attend school. Chickenpox has been famed for being much worse in the adult years compared to the younger years so it was good that he had got it out of the way.

Things can go back to normal

It took them a long time to get there, but Jerome was eventually allowed to go back to school. He had contracted chickenpox and so his body had built up the immunity he needed to return to school. This wasn’t quite the win the family was expecting, but it was enough.

Jerome had a lot of catching up to do since he had missed so much school. He claims that he has a lot of homework to catch up with and has practically had a test every day.