Parents chafe at vaccines despite illness outbreak

MIDDLEBURY, Ind. — Dozens of parents in a northern Indiana school district that has seen an outbreak of chicken pox could be forced to keep their children out of school for weeks because they aren’t vaccinated against the illness.

Officials with the Indiana State Department of Health and Elkhart County Health Department have instructed Middlebury Community Schools that unvaccinated students cannot attend school until 21 days after the last reported case of chicken pox.

The school system has had at least 13 cases of chicken pox since mid-November, which qualifies as an outbreak, The Elkhart Truth reported.

The outbreak prompted schools to offer vaccine clinics, but more than 50 students in the district still lacked vaccinations.

Some parents say they would rather deal with the illness than possible side effects, while others argue the vaccinations violate their religious beliefs.

Brian Stutzman, founder of Abundant Life Ministries, said two of his children who attend the district’s schools have chicken pox now, but he doesn’t think government should dictate parents’ decisions.

“These decisions are highly important and do affect many lives,” he said.

Caryn Howell told WSBT she would rather deal with chickenpox than worry that the vaccine could cause other health issues later in life.

“It’s creating other issues and other ramifications both for students taking it who are getting reactions as well as adults down the road who then have other issues to deal with, like shingles,” Howell said.

Parent Mike Boval, whose children aren’t vaccinated because of the family’s religious beliefs, said he is concerned that some students might miss so much school that they can’t proceed to the next grade.

Dr. Dan Nafziger, Elkhart County’s health officer, said his goal is to stop the outbreak as quickly as possible.

He said the health department’s response is designed to have the outbreak “wrapped up before Christmas vacation is over.”

“The time to stop it is now, not drag it out,” he said.

Middlebury Superintendent Jim Conner said students who aren’t vaccinated will miss classes and extracurricular activities but will still be expected to do homework and can exchange notes and assignments with teachers through the Internet or personal delivery.

The state health department requires children to be vaccinated before entering school and again before the sixth grade. Parents who don’t want their children immunized for religious reasons must provide a written objection to the school each year the student is enrolled.

Nafziger said he respects parents’ right to not vaccinate their children but that not vaccinating puts them and other children at risk.

The Middlebury outbreak is the second in northern Indiana in recent weeks. Union-North United School Corp. in Lakeville had at least eight cases of chickenpox at LaVille Elementary School as of Nov. 21.