Why are Schools Requiring New Immunizations?
I have been seeing many students lately who are being required to have a pertussis vaccine before they return to school. This has been confusing as pertussis (whooping cough) has been traditionally thought to be an illness of babies and very young children. The pertussis portion of the “baby series” had been removed from the general DPT (tetanus shot) by the teenage booster as it was believed that the disease was no longer an issue at that age and that the pertussis portion of the DTP vaccination was causing the unpleasant reactions.
In the last few years, we have discovered that Pertussis also is a disease of people beyond childhood and, although the illness is less severe, it can both produced a prolonged respiratory illness in adults and can infect babies who have not completed their vaccination series, causing life threatening illness. Since many parents were either unaware of this problem or not following the recommendation for revaccination, the California secondary schools are requiring documentation of Pertussis Vaccine within the past 10 years for admission to classes in the Fall. This requirement was sent out last spring and I have given many doses of the DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus and acellular Purtussis) vaccine in the last few months. I still hear concerns about the safety of the vaccine and can assure you that since the original vaccine contained cellular pertussis and the new vaccine contains acellular pertussis, the vaccine is now completely safe. Just so those of you out there who like to wait until the last minute will know, we have the vaccine in stock and can usually provide it on a same day basis. Please call the office first (805-898-0500) to be sure that we have someone available to give the vaccination.