Pertussis

Posted on July 11, 2010  |   Posted in Blog, Infectious Diseases   |   Comments 0 Comments   Tags: ,

You may have heard that there is an outbreak of whooping cough in California.  There are always multiple reasons epidemics occur, but one causal factor appears to be California’s lack of mandated midschool boosters of pertussis vaccine.  We do mandate such vaccination, which hopefully will prevent us from experiencing California’s challenges.

Remember:

Immunization requirements relating to school entry for the upcoming school year are:

  • a tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis(whooping cough) or “Tdap” booster for children who are:

a) entering 6th grade in public school on or after August 1, 2008, if five or more years have passed since the last dose of this vaccine, or

b) 12 years of age on or after August 1, 2008 and who are educated in a private  school, home-school or a non- traditional school, if five or more years have passed since the last dose of Tdap, and

c) students enrolling in college or university for the first time on or after July 1, 2008.

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