Kentucky Students Lose Appeal in Chickenpox Vaccination Case

Kentucky Students Lose Appeal in Chickenpox Vaccination Case
A nurse loads a syringe with a vaccine against hepatitis at a free immunization clinic for students before the start of the school year, in Lynwood, Calif., on Aug. 27, 2013. Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
The Associated Press
Updated:

FRANKFORT, Ky.—More than two dozen Catholic school students and their parents have lost their initial appeal in challenging a Kentucky health department’s efforts to control a chickenpox outbreak they claim infringed on their religious beliefs.

A three-judge panel of the Kentucky Court of Appeals sided with a trial court judge who ruled in April that the Northern Kentucky Health Department acted within its authority.