An extra month for the whooping cough vaccine

Parents and administrators can take a deep breath now that the Legislature has approved a month extension for schools to verify students from 7th to 12th grade have received the pertussis vaccine -- also known as whooping cough.
The bill granting the extension was approved Thursday.
Whooping cough is a highly contagious disease that can be debilitating at any age and lethal to infants. California’s current pertussis epidemic has killed 10 babies and stricken more than 11,000 people since last year.
Legislation signed last year requires students entering or advancing to grades seven through twelve in the 2011–12 school year to be immunized with a pertussis vaccine booster called the tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid, and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine. That new requirement went into effect this month and affects all students—current, new, and transfers—in public and private schools.
Senate Bill 614 (Kehoe) would grant local educational agencies an extra 30 days after classes begin to verify vaccinations of all seventh through twelfth grade students in California.
For more information on pertussis and Tdap, please visit the California Department of Education’s Web page.