S/O To This Anti-Vaccination Private School In The Middle Of A Major Chicken Pox Outbreak

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina — A chickenpox outbreak at a private school now ranks as North Carolina’s largest since a vaccine for the virus became available more than 20 years ago, health officials say. As of Friday, 36 students at Asheville Waldorf School had contracted the varicella virus, known to most as chickenpox. The school has one of the highest vaccination religious exemption rates in the state. The viral infection manifests in an itchy rash in most cases and is not typically life-threatening. But the outbreak at Asheville Waldorf should cause concern, said Dr. Jennifer Mullendore of Buncombe County Department of Health and Human Services. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chickenpox is particularly dangerous to infants, pregnant women those with compromised immune systems, such as people who are HIV positive or coming out of cancer treatment. “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,” Mullendore said. Two to three out of every 1,000 children infected with chickenpox required care in a hospital, she said. “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,” Mullendore said. Each year, the chickenpox vaccine prevents more than 3.5 million cases of varicella, 9,000 hospitalizations and 100 deaths, the CDC states on its webpage.

Anti-Vaxxers. Pro-Plaguers. Outright looneybins. Whatever you wanna call ‘em, they’re back again. This time with an outbreak! I got vaccinated for the Chicken Pox because my parents had, you know, common fucking sense. But I’ve heard tall tales about “Chicken Pox Parties”. Legend has it, when the first child in the neighborhood was infected with the Chicken Pox virus, all the mothers of the non-infected kids would gather everyone in one room for a parasitic playdate where they all caught the illness. So I guess that’s what we have here for people who still are OK with continue to medically live in the middle ages? I’m sure when these children grow up to suffer from Shingles they’ll be thanking their parents!