More than two dozen Catholic school students and their parents have lost an initial appeal in challenging a Kentucky health department's efforts to control a chickenpox outbreak earlier this year. The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled that state health officials were within their power to ban students who weren’t vaccinated against the chicken pox from going to class or participating in school activities until an outbreak of the disease had passed.
The students had argued that the actions by the Northern Kentucky Health Department infringed on their religious beliefs. But a three-judge appeals panel sided with a trial court judge who ruled in April that the department acted within its authority. The health agency canceled extracurricular activities and later imposed a temporary ban on school attendance for unvaccinated students at Assumption Academy and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart as the chickenpox outbreak spread. Attorneys for the students and their families plan to appeal to the Kentucky Supreme Court.