They Decided Not To Vaccinate And Now They Are Paying The Price With Worst Chickenpox Outbreak In 20 Years

There are always going to be differences in opinion and in today’s world, one of the ways in which it is seen is with vaccinations. Some people don’t mind having their children vaccinated and they feel that it is the best thing they can do to help prevent some of the terrible diseases from occurring. Other people, however, feel that it is in the best interest of the child to go through those illnesses and vaccinating the child actually exposes them to some danger.

One of the different types of vaccinations that is quite popular in today’s world is the one for chickenpox. It also tends to be one that many parents get, but as you are about to see, that is not always the case. This story comes from the Asheville Waldorf School, which is an elementary school in Asheville, North Carolina. According to a local news report, 36 different cases of chickenpox were reported in the school.

Some families say that they are religiously exempt from any type of vaccine. Out of the 152 students that attend the school, 110 had not received them. That is led to a rather interesting problem.

“The school follows immunization requirements put in place by the state board of education, but also recognizes that a parent’s decision to immunize their children happens before they enter school,” the school said in a statement to Blue Ridge Public Radio.

The medical director for Buncombe County, North Carolina is Jennifer Mullendore had the following to say: “People don’t think it’s a serious disease, and for the majority of people it’s not. But it’s not that way for everybody,” she said. “Two to three out of every 1,000 children infected with chickenpox required care in a hospital. To me, that’s not a mild disease, and if you’re the parent of one of those children, you probably don’t think so either,” she continued. “We want to be clear: Vaccination is the best protection from chickenpox.”

It turns out, she is right. Most people will say that chickenpox isn’t a big deal because most of us had it when we were children. It may actually be bigger than most of us consider. Chickenpox is not only serious, but it can even prove to be deadly for children.

The most important thing to remember is that chickenpox is preventable. Why would you deliberately allow your child to contract the virus when there is a vaccine that I couldn’t stop it in its tracks. Asheville is only one of many different communities that are saying no to vaccinations. The percentage nationwide has quadrupled in the past 18 years.

“The thing people need to understand is that when you have pockets of unvaccinated people, they serve as reservoirs for disease,” said Susan Sullivan, a nurse with the state DHHS told the Citizen-Times. In other words, if you have a compromised immune system, you are more likely to experience illness.