“This whole back-to-school push is a good time for parents to think about their kids in terms of what vaccines are recommended.’’
But when it comes to whooping cough, a growing number of states are requiring updated shots as students enter middle school and beyond. A new California law requires a staggering 3 million students to show proof they’re protected as they head back to class.
“It is that kind of effort that’s going to help us stem the outbreaks,’’ says Dr. Mark Sawyer of the University of California, San Diego.
Aside from an annual flu vaccine, here are federal recommendations for preteens and teens:
—A Tdap shot between ages 11 and 12. It protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis or whooping cough — and the latter is key as the cough that’s so strong it can break a rib is on the rise.
Young children get vaccinated before kindergarten but that protection wears off, and pertussis outbreaks in middle or high school no longer are rare. While older kids usually recover, whooping cough can cause weeks of misery — and worse, they can easily spread the bacterial infection to not-yet-vaccinated infants, who can die.
Last year was especially bad for whooping cough, with more than 21,000 U.S. cases and at least 26 deaths. California was hard hit with more than 9,200 cases — the most since 1947 — and 10 babies died.
The new California law aims to ensure everyone entering seventh through 12th grade got a booster at some point. Before the law, about half those students were estimated to be unprotected, says Dr. John Talarico of the California Department of Public Health. With vaccine vans parked at schools and special Tdap lines at some county health departments, an immunization program for the poor and underinsured has been distributing three to seven times more shots than usual in recent months, he says.
