A US teenager who made headlines when he sued his school after refusing a chickenpox immunisation has now contracted the virus, his lawyer says.
Jerome Kunkel, 18, took his school to court just last month when they banned him from attending after he refused the vaccination on religious grounds.
This week, his lawyer Christopher Wiest confirmed the teen had since developed chickenpox but said he did not regret refusing the vaccination.
"These are deeply held religious beliefs, they're sincerely held beliefs," Mr Wiest told NBC News.
"From their perspective, they always recognised they were running the risk of getting it, and they were ok with it."
The Kunkel family has previously said the chickenpox vaccination is against the family's religious beliefs because cells from aborted foetuses were used to develop the immunisation.
His school, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Assumption Academy, saw a chickenpox outbreak in March that led state health officials to order all unvaccinated students to remain at home.
Mr Kunkel, who has been home from school since 15 March, challenged the health order in court but was unsuccessful.
Mr Wiest went on to call the school's ban "stupid" and said his client would not have missed so much school if they allowed him to remain in class and contract the virus earlier.
"He could have contracted this in March and been back to school by now," he said, in a report by NBC News.
The Northern Kentucky Health Department spokeswoman Laura Brinson criticised Mr Wiest's suggestion that the school should have encouraged students to contract chickenpox, labelling that idea "deeply concerning".
"Recent news articles reporting statements by Chris Wiest, the plaintiffs’ attorney, downplaying the dangers of the chickenpox virus are alarming and disappointing," Ms Brinson said.
"Wiest’s comments are dismissive of the severity of this virus, and his recent announcement that he is advising his clients to actively contract the virus so that they can become individually immune to it is deeply concerning."
Ms Brinson went on to say allowing the virus to spread uncontained could have serious impacts for members of the population with weakened immune systems.
"Encouraging the spread of an acute infectious disease in a community demonstrates a callous disregard for the health and safety of friends, family, neighbours, and unsuspecting members of the general public," she said.
"When introduced in an unvaccinated population, the virus can rapidly spread, causing serious, even deadly consequences, to people who are particularly at risk, such as infants, adolescents, pregnant women, and adults and children with weakened immune systems, including those receiving cancer treatment."
Mr Kunkel could return to school as early as next week once his chickenpox clears.
