Features
Immunizations Key To Fighting Pertussis Epidemic In California
The best way to reduce the spread of pertussis is to make sure everyone who should have the vaccine gets it. The California Department of Public Health has released new recommendations for the Tdap vaccine, which helps protect older children and adults against pertussis as well as tetanus and diphtheria.
While a regular booster shot (Tdap) is still recommended for children 11 or 12 years old, CDPH now recommends a pertussis booster shot for the following persons:
- all those seven years of age and older who are not fully immunized and due for a pertussis vaccine; and
- all adults, including women of childbearing age (before, during or immediately after pregnancy), and people who have contact with pregnant women or infants.
Vaccine protection from the disease decreases over time, so older children and adults can be more susceptible to pertussis. And they can unknowingly spread it to young children who are too young to be immunized (under two months old).
It is just those children who are particularly vulnerable to pertussis. Children that age often get complications from the disease, such as pneumonia, and often must be hospitalized. The disease can even be fatal - several California infants have died during this epidemic.
For more information about pertussis and the vaccines that protect against it, see the pertussis links on this page, and visit:
New American Academy of Pediatrics Campaign Focuses on Immunizations
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has begun a campaign to emphasize just how dangerous some vaccine-preventable childhood diseases can be, and how immunizations on time and on schedule helps protect children from them.
Protect Tomorrow website features the video stories of regular people whose families were affected by childhood diseases like polio and measles. To learn more and see the videos, please visit http://www.aap.org/protecttomorrow/.
For even more information, visit www.healthychildren.org and http://www.aap.org/immunization/.
