A teenager who unsuccessfully attempted to sue his school after he was banned for refusing vaccination has contracted chickenpox.

Jerome Kunkel, 18, along with other unimmunised students, was barred from Our Lady of Sacred Heart/Assumption Academy in Kentucky after an outbreak of the disease that sickened at least 32 students.

The Northern Kentucky health department quickly reacted to the outbreak, barring all unvaccinated students from participating in classes or extracurricular activities.

Mr Kunkel contested this ban in court, calling the vaccine "immoral, illegal, and sinful", but a Kentucky judge ultimately sided with the state and the school and upheld the ban of unimmunised students.

He has now contracted chickenpox, after first showing symptoms last week. He is hoping to have recovered within a few days.

Now that he has had chickenpox, and is therefore immune to it, he will be allowed back into the classroom.

Laura Brinson, a spokeswoman for the Northern Kentucky Health Department, said: "Encouraging the spread of an acute infection disease in a community demonstrates a callous disregard for the health and safety of friends, family, neighbours and unsuspecting members of the general public."

Mr Kunkel said he had refused the chickenpox vaccine on moral and religious grounds as the family objects to the vaccine, which they claimed was "derived from aborted foetuses".

Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination Show all 8 1 /8 Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination A hospitalised child suffering from polio shows off his biceps to a doctor in 1947 Getty Images Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination Children being given an oral vaccine for polio, known then as infantile paralysis, in Hull during the 1961 epidemic Rex Features Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination A boy suffering from polio being treated with a type of 'iron lung' in hospital. A nurse operates the equipment at the end of the bed which controls the flow of air pressure Getty Images Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination A woman sees her new born baby whilst lying inside an iron lung as part of her treatment for Polio Getty Images Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination Polio victim Margaret Dixon watching the opening matches of the 1957 Wimbledon championships from her invalid chair Rex Features Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination Young children polio patients doing physiotherapy exercises wearing calipers against their outside beds at Wingfield Nuffield Orthopaedic hospital in Oxfordshire Rex Features Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination A five year old polio victim walks into the outstretched arms of Doctor George Deaver, faculty member of the New York University College of Medicine, during a demonstration at the Institute of Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine Getty Images Polio: iron lungs, leg braces and vaccination 6 May 1956: First injections for children against polio at the Hendon clinic Getty Images

In the 1960’s, two electively aborted foetuses’ cells were used to grow viruses to produce some vaccines, although no human cells have been used since.

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events