Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin admitted in a radio interview on Tuesday that he intentionally exposed his nine children to chicken pox instead of giving them a vaccination.
Bevin told WKCT, a station in Bowling Green, Kentucky, that his children were "miserable," but they "all turned out fine."
Once children get chicken pox, they are generally immune for the rest of their lives. Contracting the disease as a teenager or adult can be much more serious, and includes symptoms such as pneumonia, inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) and hemorrhagic complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
"They got the chickenpox on purpose because we found a neighbor that had it and I went and made sure every one of my kids was exposed to it, and they got it," Bevin told the radio station. "They had it as children."
