North Carolina community with high rate of anti-vaxxers has biggest chickenpox outbreak in 20 years

'what happens when we lack community immunity? Measles,' says state health official

A North Carolina community with a relatively high number of anti-vaxxers experiences the state's worst chickenpox outbreak since 1995. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

A North Carolina school with an anti-vaccine community at its heart is experiencing its worst outbreak of chickenpox in more than two decades.

The Ashville Waldorf primary school in Asheville, North Carolina, reported 36 cases of chickenpox this month.

Out of the school’s 152 students, 110 have not received vaccinations, according to the Citizen-Times newspaper.

The school boasts one of the highest vaccination exemption rates in the state, with families citing religious beliefs as the main reason for eschewing the preventative measure.

This is the worst outbreak since a vaccine for the contagious disease - which once affected 90 per cent of Americans - became available 20 years ago.

The school said in a statement: "Asheville Waldorf School is committed to protecting the health and safety of our community."

“The school follows immunisation requirements put in place by the state board of education, but also recognises that a parent’s decision to immunise their children happens before they enter school,” it said.

North Carolina does not label the disease as dangerous but the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) calls it “serious” and has said the vaccine for chickenpox, caused by the varicella zoster virus, prevents 3.5m cases and 100 deaths per year.

Expectant mothers, infants, and those with compromised immune systems are particularly at risk and the disease “can be life-threatening” though that risk is rare.

Buncombe County medical director Jennifer Mullendore told the Washington Post: “We want to be clear: Vaccination is the best protection from chickenpox.”

“When we see high numbers of unimmunised children and adults, we know that an illness like chickenpox can spread easily throughout the community — into our playgrounds, grocery stores, and sports teams,” she said.

“What happens when we lack community immunity? Measles is what happens,” she said at a county meeting earlier in the year.

North Carolina law does require all students in the state to receive certain immunisations, particularly children in kindergarten who must receive two doses for chickenpox, two for measles, and two for mumps.

State law also does not require parents citing religious reasons to give any further explanation.

“If the bona fide religious beliefs of an adult or the parent, guardian or person in loco parentis of a child are contrary to the immunisation requirements contained in this Part, the adult or the child shall be exempt from the requirements,” the law states.

A small percentage of parents have bought into theories, all of which have been debunked, that vaccines cause other health issues in children like autism.