Freedom of Choice, NOT Consequences

The other day I got home right as the Boone County Recorder was being delivered to my home.  Even though it is just a small local paper, I always read through it and see what's happening around town.  I came across this article about a NKY teenager who was suing the Health Department over the fact that his lack of vaccination caused him and others from his school to be banned from attending school and all events, due to an outbreak of chickenpox.
NKY Teen Sues Health Department

My interest was definitely peaked and I was full of questions as well.  There were many things in the article that sent up red flags all over my mind.  Firstly, there were 32 confirmed cases of chickenpox in a school of barely over 100 students (according to the latest enrollment information from 2015).  That is 13% of the school population, that was infected with chicken pox.  I couldn't find information on the current enrollment, but I am guessing enrollment hasn't boomed so suddenly in the past few years that those numbers have become insignificant.  It is probably still a large number of the school population in my guess.

Also, that a member of the health department expressed, "religious animus toward the student and his family regarding the issue.  However, when quoted, I didn't feel the official said anything of that nature to the family.  The direct quote from his email to the student's family read as follows, "Without definitive evidence of the 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."  This does not scream or even whisper of religious animus in my opinion.

The student says he "opposes the vaccine on religious grounds, due to its being derived from aborted fetal cells."  This definitely led me in the direction of much research, as it raised questions to me about what this student actually knows/believes about vaccinations and what he is regurgitating from hearing his parents speak on it.  Obviously, I cannot know the answer to that question, but I did look into the making of these vaccines and the teachings of the Catholic Church regarding vaccinations and their origin.  I was raised Catholic myself and my parents vaccinated.  In fact, much of the population of my Catholic grade school, middle school and high school were Catholic students who were vaccinated as well.  I went to Saint Henry School for grade school and middle school and graduated from St. Henry District High School in Boone County, Kentucky.  

I needed to know if vaccines were derived from aborted fetal cells.  I began my research and came across an interesting article from  ABC News that addressed the creation of vaccinations.  It also mentions the fact that the aborted fetal cells were not abortions in order to create vaccines or do research but cells from abortions that happened for other reasons.  Also, that there is about a "billionth of a gram of DNA fragments found in said vaccines."  The article also addressed the ethical issues that are presented due to vaccinations being made this way.  There is not a way to make alternate types of vaccines at this time in science and they will not be using animal cells in place of human cells because the viruses do not grow properly in animal cells.

The other information I felt I needed was the actual wording on how Catholics stand in regards to vaccinating and what they recommend to their followers.  Although the ABC News article spoke on it, I felt that going to the National Catholic Bioethics Center was getting information directly from the source and this is what I found.  The NCB Center actually addresses this issue directly and mentions a few points I felt were important. 

1.  We should always ask our physicians if their is a historical association with abortion regarding vaccines.

2.  We should always ask if there is an alternative to a certain vaccination and if their is, use the alternative.

3.  One is morally free to use the vaccine regardless of its historical association with abortion because the risk to public health outweighs the legitimate concerns with the origin of the vaccine.

4. At this time there are no alternatives for Rubella, Hepatitis A or Chickenpox.

All very useful information and taken directly from the National Catholic Bioethics Center and coinciding with the Catholic teachings and beliefs on the matter.

That being said, I still think it is fine if this student and his family chose not to vaccinate.  The student mentions that he was told to stay away from any school activities including extra-curricular activities until three weeks past that last known case of chickenpox was diagnosed in his school.  He speaks about his disappointment that he didn't get to finish his senior year basketball season for the lack of vaccination.  Here is where I have a major problem.  I said before, I think it is their choice to vaccinate or choose not to, it is their FREEDOM OF CHOICE.  However, they are not free of the consequences of that choice.  That is how consequences work.  You can make any choice you want to, you can choose not to wear pants to work tomorrow if you don't want to or you can choose not to pay for the gas you just pumped into your vehicle and simply drive away or you can choose to light your neighbors house ablaze because he ticked you off, but you are NOT FREE OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR CHOICES.  

If you choose not to vaccinate, you must deal with the consequences of that choice.  In this case, he has to suck it up and deal with the consequence of missing out on his senior year basketball games.  That is the consequence of his choice.  He hopefully will not have the consequence of getting a life threatening illness due to his lack of vaccinations, but that MAY be a consequence of his not being vaccinated as well.  I feel sorry for him that his senior year was ruined in a way, but honestly, he is a ticking time bomb to the health of fellow students at his school and around town.  Fellow humans who have compromised immune systems due to nothing on their part except a cancer diagnosis, chemotherapy or other diseases that effect how their bodies fight illness should steer clear of this young man.  So many folks, due to no fault of their own, are immune compromised and people like this are making it riskier each day for them to walk around, go to school and live without fear of contracting one of these serious illnesses.  Don't they have enough to worry about?  So sorry that your senior year was a disappointment, but filing a lawsuit against the health department?  Are you serious Clark?  The Health Department did their job and in my opinion, remained fairly unbiased and used appropriate language when trying to explain to this imbecile that his simply being at school and at school related activities posed a potential grave threat to society.  I might have chosen some words that weren't quite as business like as theirs.  

The real interesting part to me is what will happen if and when this young man contracts Rubella, Measles or Chickenpox and loses his life?  Who exactly will his parents sue when he dies of something that he could have been vaccinated against years ago, and even supported by his church in the process?  Will they sue the health department, the doctor's office or will they file a lawsuit with God himself for allowing their child to contract a deadly disease that could have easily been prevented?