Non-Vaccination Tolerant School Has Mass Breakout of Chickenpox

If anyone is surprised by this headline, please let us know. Because we aren't.

One out of every four kids at the Brunswick North West Primary school in Melbourne, Australia, have come down with the chicken pox. If that number is shocking to you, it shouldn't be when you figure that the school welcomes unvaccinated children to attend.

In the past two weeks, 80 of the 320 students at the school have come down with the chickenpox. It started with their Grade 6 class (equivalent to the U.S.'s 5th or 6th grade) and then spread to the lower grades down to Grade 2. On any given day, absentee rate is about 25% of the school's population according to a district spokesperson.

Even if a child is immunized against the disease, they can still contract the chickenpox, which is why so many students are still coming down with the illness.

Parents seem divided on whether they should force children at the school to be vaccinated. Vaccinated children have an 80% rate of not getting chickenpox and if they do get the chickenpox, they will most likely get an average of 25 spots. Unvaccinated children will get an average of 800, according to Monash Children's Hospital head of infection and immunity Jim Buttery.