An 18-year-old Catholic high school student who has not been vaccinated against chickenpox filed a lawsuit this past week against the Northern Kentucky Health Department.

Jerome Kunkel, a senior at Assumption Academy in Walton, claims health officials violated his freedom of religion and other rights by ordering students without the vaccine to not attend school or extracurricular activities.

Kunkel's school is suffering a chickenpox outbreak, with 32 cases. The school had approximately 110 students in 2015.

On March 14, the Northern Kentucky Health Department instructed students without proof of vaccination or immunity against chickenpox to not attend school in order to "prevent further spread of this illness."

The students were told to remain home until three weeks after the last case of chickenpox at the school.

More:Chickenpox outbreak in Walton grows to 32 students, unvaccinated students told not to attend

But Kunkel, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday with the Boone County Circuit Court, opposes the vaccine on religious grounds "due to its being derived from aborted fetal cells."

The lawsuit cites Kentucky law that allows for emergency immunizations during a given epidemic and allows for the implementation of "rules and regulations as it (the Cabinet for Health and Family Services) deems efficient in preventing the introduction or spread of such infectious or contagious disease."

The suit claims an official with the Health Department expressed religious animus toward the Kunkel family.

The official wrote to the family by email, according to the suit, that the Health Department's primary concern was preventing the spread of illness to the public.

"Without definitive evidence of immunity, a person could be a source of potential exposure, even if they are currently healthy. It’s impossible to know how anyone will react to chickenpox, therefore we must act with an abundance of caution," the official wrote, according to the suit.

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The suit addresses Kunkel's role as a center on the school's basketball team. The Health Department ordered in late February that he couldn't play in games, according to the suit.

"The fact that I can't finish my senior year in basketball, like, our last couple of games, it's pretty devastating," Kunkel told WLWT. "I mean, you go through four years of high school playing basketball you look forward to your senior year."

The Health Department released a statement addressing his lawsuit:

"The actions taken by the Health Department with respect to Assumption Academy were done consistent with this agency’s statutory charge to protect the public health," the statement says.

"Chickenpox ... can be a very serious illness that is especially dangerous for infants and pregnant women or anyone who has a weakened immune system," the statement continued. "The recent actions taken by the Northern Kentucky Health Department regarding the chickenpox outbreak at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart/Assumption Academy was in direct response to a public health threat and was an appropriate and necessary response to prevent further spread of this infectious illness."

Visit Vaccines.gov to find vaccination providers.

Chickenpox is a vaccine-preventable illness with a blister-like rash, itching, tiredness and fever that can last 5-7 days.

The chickenpox virus spreads easily, mainly when a person touches or breathes in the virus particles that come from chickenpox blisters, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can also spread through tiny droplets that get into the air when someone who has chickenpox breathes or talks.

Chickenpox is usually mild in children and makes them extremely uncomfortable with itching, the CDC says. But the disease also can result in complications and even deaths.

Before a vaccine was available, about 4 million people suffered from chickenpox each year in the U.S., according to the CDC. More than 10,500 of those people were hospitalized, and as many as 150 people died.