The Walnut Creek School District has distributed an important message about whooping cough.
Please click HERE for all the information!
WCSD: Beware of whooping cough!
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is this another ploy to get us to vaccinate our kids unnecessarily? Sometimes, I think the CDC issues these just for pharmaceutical companies to get money.
Great information, thanks Mr. Mayor….
I bet we see a similar notice from MDUSD in just moments, I am holding my breath, oh wait, they are installing solar panels, not time for student health concerns….
It is unbelievable that a disease like whooping cough that was at one time rarely heard of and was under control in the United States is making a come back due to parents not vaccinating their kids.
Rob, When you don’t have health insurance, you don’t get your children vaccinated. You are right, of course, but I think what the authorities need to look at is why children aren’t being vaccinated, including the lack of health care. Are immigrants bringing/spreading this? I don’t know; just asking. There could be multiple reasons. Some parents (with health insurance) are afraid that their children will get autism if they have them vaccinated, so that might be a contributing cause as well. Either way, from all I have heard this is a valid health issue and needs to be addressed.
Even vaccinated children can and do get whooping cough–or something diagnosed as whooping cough. Outbreaks occur every few years even among fully vaccinated populations.
DTaP (and Tdap, I bet) are cash cows for pharmaceutical companies so do some research before you vaccinate. The 2009 prescribing information for the Tdap vaccine Boostrix, for instance, says the vaccine has not been tested for safety in pregnant women, nursing mothers or children under 10 years of age.
You know what is worse ? Parents who listen to people like Jenny McCarthy about how evil vaccinations are. We have worked very hard in this country to over come diseases and pea brained people who think that because a very very small percentage of kids get sick it is because of vaccinations. Well I don’t want your sick bug spewing kids around mine, so either get them vaccinated our keep them at home so they do not infect anyone else. .
P.S. the sky is NOT falling.
I had my children vaccinated and at ages 12 1/2 and 18 they came down with whooping cough that progressed into pneumonia. The first vaccine lasts about 12 years and is not a forever thing and now there is a booster vaccine. I was the one who came down sick first and went into pneumonia, then my children followed. It was terrible and the cough was horrible, we all were on inhalers for months. I have never had that feeling before of “i can’t breathe”, first time in my life I wanted to call 911, went into Urgent Care instead. We have all now had the booster vaccine. They put my husband on preventive antibiotics and thankfully our oldest did not live at home. My mother had to come in and care for us for several weeks.
If a baby had been as sick as we were, they might have died. Whooping cough can be fatal among the young. Parents need to do their own research and not listen to the hysteria. I did and am happy we have all had our vaccines. If you have a good Dr., they will work with you and can spread them out over a longer period of time. I have family members in the medical field and they vaccinate their children.
Yeah, those big bad pharmaceutical companies are trying to keep your children from dying of one of the most horrific disease a child can experience.
Kaiser’s note on whooping cough
Get your kids vaccinated!
I agree with Cam. Do some research. Just do it without a chip on your shoulder. Study the history of infectious disease. Learn statistical analysis so you can understand what it means when the numbers of cases spike and drop from year to year. Some research into basic science and medicine would also be good.
Accepting unsubstantiated claims on anti-vaccine websites is not research (nor is reading marketing material on big pharma web sites).
It’s frightening that people trust “crazybobs-natural-medicine.com” over peer-review based research from the CDC. A little critical thinking goes a long way.
As a mom and healthcare professional, I have been very concerned about this, considering babies are most at risk for death. I have done a lot of research about vaccinations in general and most recently, the pertussis epidemic…
@SK – All children are entitled to free vaccinations through the Vaccines for Children program, regardless of insurance. You can contact the local health department to find a particpating physician. The number in Contra Costa County is 925-313-6767 and their website is: http://cchealth.org/services/immunization/. They are curently listing clinics that offer DTaP and TDaP vaccines on their website as well.
In general, regardless of whether or not any vaccine is a “cash cow” for the pharma companies, the reality is that California is experiencing a HUGE epidemic in pertussis outbreaks! I’ve seen numerous articles on the web about this as well as national news reports. Numbers don’t lie. There is a 7-fold increase in the number of cases from this year compared to last year in CA. The most recent number I found showed over 5300 cases in CA right now compared to less than 500 this time last year. Certain counties have more cases than others. Check the California Department of Public Health website http://www.cdph.ca.gov. This is the most number of cases reported in over 50 years, which is so sad, because this is a disease that was close to be being irradicated. Because the number of cases had dropped so dramatically, many people stopped taking the disease seriously and stopped getting vaccinated, leading to the increase now. A number of babies have died, under three months old – too young to get vaccinated. That means, it’s up to the adults, siblings and caregivers to get vaccinated to provide a shelter of protection around the baby! While the disease can be quite painful and long-lasting for adults, it can lead to death and MANY other complications for infants and young children, such as brain damage (from the violent coughing), broken ribs, pneumonia, etc.
@ Cam – I checked out the prescribing info for Boostrix. It ALSO states that the booster has been approved for use in individauls ages 10 and over. Therefore, healthcare providers would have no business giveing it to pregnant, nursing moms or kids under 10. It’s a booster intended for kids and adults age 10-64 years of age.
I believe that immunizations were created to help protect us and our kids and feel that the most recent Whooping Cough outbreak is evident of this. I’m not taking chances with me or my family and we’re getting vaccinated, for ourselves and for others!
Furthermore, in case you are unaware of the severity of pertussis, I found this very alarming and heartbreaking video: http://shotbyshot.org/
Check out Dylan’s Story.
Thank you, Cam. I did look up Boostrix on the internet. Here’s what I learned:
Boostrix (Tdap)is a newer vaccine, so it is more expensive; however, it contains vaccine against three diseases, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. The obvious advantage of Boostrix is that you only have to get one shot rather than three, and that could be a cost-savings. It is a booster vaccination for people aged 10-18, since it is believe early childhood immunization wears off with time. It does not contain thimerosal, the preservative some people are concerned about.
FYI, my children are fully vaccinated. But to me, its just like the swine flu, it was unnecessary stress people were put under. You should not change your life because of a small risk, you have a bigger risk of being in a car accident but people still continue to not use 5 point harness carseats and such. I am careful with my children, they have the recommended vaccines yet we will not go overboard with extra vaccines. We do not get the flu shot, but they did when they were smaller because they were at a larger risk. 2 years ago, my children had scarlett fever. We are quick to respond and I take them to the doctor if they are feeling sick. We eat right, sleep 10 hours a night (the kids) and vitamins. To me, thats what to do, not overboard yourself with stress from a VERY small chance of whooping cough. dTap is doing its job.
Chaz, I completely agree with Jenny McCarthy crap, kids NEED vaccines.
Now question, does anyone think that this “outbreak” could be from people who are protesting vaccinations?
I also did not know that the vaccine only lasted until 12. My kids arent quite that age yet so I will be sure to ask their pediatrician next time.
No brainer. Get your vaccine.
The uproar over vaccination caused vaccine manufacturers to eliminate thimerosal from pediatric vaccines. Thimerosal contains a small amount of mercury. Some conspiracy theorists claimed that it was mercury that was causing autism.
They have eliminated mercury from pediatric vaccines for several years now. The vaccines given to children these days are mercury-free.
Some ignorant people still believe that childhood vaccines still contain mercury and they are not vaccinating their children. We have seen new cases of polio and measles in children who are not vaccinated. People don’t remember what it was like back in the 50s when children were contracting polio and getting paralyzed for life.
If polio and these other diseases appear in greater numbers, the viruses could mutate and become more dangerous. Not getting your children vaccinated could create epidemics where everyone is vulnerable.
I was reading an article earlier that said that whooping cough has mutated and they believe that the vaccines given to us and our children MAY not work now because of the mutation. Anyone know more on this? I cant find too much other than personal opinion on web searches.
I work at the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center as a nurse and we’ve been pushing the TDaP like crazy. So what if someone’s gotten it 2 years ago. Older than 64 years of age, so what, give it again. I’ve asked my supervisor for a written policy, but I am still under probatiton so there’s only so much I can demand, but it is really nutty.
on the flip side, this week i saw a kid that was diagnosed last year with having the h1n1, of which i thought was a sham way back. just goes to show what i know.
go get vaccinated!
as well, Contra Costa County has free clinics to dispense this vaccine, so no out of pocket to anybody. Also, the chances of growing pointy ears or long tail has been minmized
It says know the signs, and yet doesn’t say what the signs and symptoms are. Disappointing that the link is to vaccine info and not symptoms.
http://whoopingcough.net/symptoms.htm
My daughter was vaccinated and got whooping cough anyways. She is miserable, we are miserable. Nobody is getting sleep because she is coughing so badly. It’s been two weeks and counting. Wish us luck.
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