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DEPARTMENT CENTERING AROUND THE ORIGIN OF THE CHICKENPOX VACCINE. AN OUTBREAK OF CHICKENPOX AT ASSUMPTION ACADEMY, A SMALL CATHOLIC SCHOOL IN WALTON, IS PUTTING THE VACCINE USED TO KEEP KIDS HEALTHY UNDER THE MICROSCOPE. DR. GARY MARSHALL: THIS VACCINE HAS BEEN USED FOR DECADES. HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOSES HAVE BEEN GIVEN. TODD: DR. GARY MARSHALL IS AN INFECTIOUS DISEASES EXPERT. HE’S DEFENDING THE ACTIONS OF THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY HEALTH DEPARTMENT. OFFICIALS WITH THAT AGENCY TOLD ASSUMPTION ACADEMY STUDENTS WHO HAVEN’T RECEIVED THE CHICKENPOX VACCINE TO STAY HOME UNTIL THE OUTBREAK IS OVER. THAT DECISION PROMPTED A COURT CHALLENGE BY SENIOR JEROME KUNKEL, WHOSE MOM SIGNED A FORM SIMILAR TO THIS ONE, OBJECTING TO THE VACCINE BASED ON RELIGIOUS GROUNDS. BILL KUNKEL: IT’S NOT A HARD DILEMMA HERE, YOU KNOW. IF YOU’RE AGAINST ABORTION, YOU’RE AGAINST THIS VACCINE. TODD: THE CHICKENPOX OR VARICELLA VACCINE WAS DEVELOPED DECADES AGO USING A CELL LINE FROM A LEGALLY ABORTED FETUS. MARSHALL SAYS SCIENTISTS ORIGINALLY USED THE CELL LINE FOR CANCER RESEARCH, AND ARGUES AGAINST RELYING ON RELIGIOUS CONCERNS TO AVOID GETTING IMMUNIZED. >> THE PEOPLE WHO INVENTED THE VARICELLA VACCINE AND THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE IT HAD NEVER HAD ANY INTENTION OF ENCOURAGING OR DOING ABORTIONS. THAT WAS WHAT WAS ACKNOWLEDGED BY THE VATICAN YEARS AGO WHERE THEY SAID, "WE UNDERSTAND THIS IS A MORAL DILEMMA. NOTHING IN LIFE IS PERFECT." TODD: ASSUMPTION IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH THE DIOCESE OF COVINGTON. AND FOR THE KUNKELS AND MANY OTHER FAMILIES AT THE SCHOOL, THAT MORAL DILEMMA IS DEEPER THAN THE CHURCH’S POSITION. BILL KUNKEL: THE MORAL ISSUE WILL ALWAYS BE THERE, AND THEY SAY IT’S YOUR CONSCIENCE AND YOU GOT TO LIVE WITH THAT. TODD: ASSUMPTION ACADEMY IS PART OF A RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY THAT’S HAD AT TIMES A DIFFICU RELATIONSHIP WITH THE VATICA ONE OTHER POINT FROM THE JUDGE IS THE ISSUE IS THIS POLICY BANNING UNVACCINATED KIDS FROM AN OUTBREAK HAS BEEN IN PLACE FOR AT LEAST A HALF AND IS NOT A REACTION TO THIS SPECIFIC INCIDE

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Following a chickenpox outbreak at a Northern Kentucky school, a high school senior's request to go back to class has been denied. An outbreak of chickenpox at Assumption Academy, a small Catholic school in Walton, is putting the vaccine used to keep kids healthy under the microscope."This vaccine has been used for decades," Dr. Gary Marshall said. "Hundreds of millions of doses have been given."Marshall is an infectious diseases expert. He's defending the actions of the Northern Kentucky Health Department. Officials with the agency told Assumption Academy that students who haven't received the chickenpox, or varicella, vaccine need to stay home until the outbreak is over.That decision prompted a court challenge by senior Jerome Kunkel whose mother signed a form objecting to the vaccine based on religious grounds. The form includes the following language: "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."Late Tuesday afternoon, Boone County Circuit Judge J.R. Schrand denied Kunkel's request to let the 18-year-old return to school, writing that Kentucky law requires the Northern Kentucky Health Department to "enforce such rules and regulations as it deems efficient in preventing the introduction or spread of the Varicella and to accomplish this, it is required to establish and strictly maintain quarantine and isolation at such places as it deems proper.""It's not a hard dilemma here, you know," Kunkel's father, Bill, said after a court hearing Monday. "If you're against abortion, you're against this vaccine."The chickenpox vaccine was developed decades ago using a cell line from a legally aborted fetus. Marshall said scientists originally used the cell line for cancer research, and argues against relying on religious concerns to avoid getting immunized."The people who invented the varicella vaccine and the people who make it had never had any intention of encouraging or doing abortions," Marshall said. "That was what was acknowledged by the Vatican years ago, where they said, 'We understand this is a moral dilemma. Nothing in life is perfect.'"Assumption Academy is not associated with the Diocese of Covington. For the Kunkels and many other families at the school, the moral dilemma is deeper than the church's position."The moral issue will always be there, and they say it's your conscious and you got to live with that," Bill Kunkel said.Assumption Academy is part of a religious community that's had, at times, a difficult relationship with the Vatican.The policy banning unvaccinated students during an outbreak has been in place in Kentucky since at least summer 2017 and is not a reaction to the situation at Assumption Academy.