California school vaccination laws were recently updated and will now require students who are going into 7th through 12th grade (for the 2011-12 school year) to get a Tdap vaccine to protect them against tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis (whooping cough).
The Tdap vaccine was approved in 2005 and was added to the routine immunization schedule for children and teens in 2006.
Tdap has also been required in most other states already, although there are about 11 states that still don't require it, but in the midst of the California whooping outbreak in the past year, you have to wonder what took them so long to start requiring Tdap.
To be fair, this new law dates back to September 2010. It is likely just now getting more attention because it takes effect on July, 1, 2011 for the next school year. California schools likely want to make sure the word gets out so that all students get their Tdap shot well before the first day of school next fall.
Massachusetts is another state with new whooping cough vaccine school rules for the 2011-12 school year.
Even if not required by your state's school immunization laws though, since Tdap is recommended by the AAP and CDC, be sure to get your child vaccinated with Tdap and protect himself and those around him from whooping cough. Kids should routinely get Tdap when they are 11 to 12 years old, although kids who are 7 to 10 and 13 to 18 can also get Tdap if they are not fully vaccinated against whooping cough already.
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I’m not sure if my previous comment went through, due to links.
Anyway, California parents can opt-out their children from the new Tdap shot requirement by signing form CDPH 8261, available at each school.
Massachusetts parents can write the school a note that the vaccine goes against their religious beliefs.
It is important to keep in mind that the California opt-out form is actually an affidavit parents sign at their child’s school that describes the ‘serious potential consequences to the student and the community of not being immunized against pertussis’ and the ‘potential for exclusion from school if unimmunized when pertussis is occurring at school or in the community.’
Exactly, Dr. Ianelli. That’s why California parents who do not agree with that statement about “serious potential consequences” may write and sign their own statement, stating simply that the vaccine is against their personal beliefs. California law does not require any specific form be signed.
The opt out does NOT have to be in the form of that propaganda affidavit. In fact, I would urge parents NOT to use that affidavit because by signing it you are admitting that without the Tdap you are putting your kids at risk. I would write a letter stating it is against your personal beliefs (and keep in mind…. the writing of the Code Section says PERSONAL beliefs NOT religious beliefs)
California Health and Safety Code Section 120365 CLEARLY states you can opt out via a LETTER or Affidavit.
As for the “serious potential consequences” that can occur from not being vaccinated…. according to the CDC… 14 people died in the ENTIRE NATION from whooping cough in 2009 and 26 in 2010…. How many people died from the flu those years? Are they going to start REQUIRING our kids to have Flu shots every year due to “Serious Potential Consequences”?
Sorry but 26 deaths out of population of 311,903,073 is NOT a “Serious Potential Consequence”
An increase in the number of pertussis cases from 238 in 2009 to 8383 in 2010 and ten deaths (nine infants) is something I would consider “serious!” The unfortunate thing is that this epidemic could have been prevented and has been prevented year after year in the past due to proper vaccination. If you have a legitimate concern, philosophical disagreement, it goes against your religion…whatever, although I may disagree with your decision not to vaccinate your kids it is your choice and I can respect that. But there is no getting around the fact that not vaccinating our kids does not come with very real and very serious risk! Yes it is possible (and likely) that by 7th grade your child has a good enough immune system that pertussis would not kill them and they would get over it…but while they’re walking around coughing (and feeling crappy) they are also exposing other people (like the elderly and the very young) whose immune system isn’t as good and this is when people end up in the hospital and potentially die. Had the child just been vaccinated they would have never been infected with pertussis and thus could not spread it.
Not vaccinating your teenager so he/she could spread the disease to someone who can die from it is something I would call a “potentially serious consequence.”
My question to the so knowledgeable people is this: as human beings we survived on this planet for hundreds of thousands of years without any vaccinations. If viruses and bacterias in their original form (not the one modified in the labs) were so dangerous we wouldn’t exist as species by now.
All these vaccinations are part of the medical industry and are needed to support the capital flowing into the pockets of big pharma. People should start using common sense and not get distracted by the profiteers.
re the comment that we’ve survived for hundreds of thousands of years without vaccines: the population of humans was not as high; there were not as many people living in close proximity; there wasn’t the means to move easily between communities, let alone the whole globe; and there were major viral outbreaks that killed thousands (bubonic plague, among others). The issue now is that people now live in much closer proximity to each other and readily travel between communities, making spread of disease much more likely. It’s not always just about lining the pockets of some one else.
And of all the cases in the supposed whooping cough outbreak, how many of these kids were vaccinated already with the Tdap shot? Come on people, wake up, these shots don’t work, except to make your immune system weaker. Plus, this shot is a triple shot. So if you give your kid the shot, he/she is getting 3 virus’ injected directly into their blood stream, among other toxins.
Lets see, the Tdap shot was introduced in 2005, and was put into the immunization schedule for kids at the same time. 5 years later, there is a major whooping cough outbreak. What do you think caused it? It must have been the kids that weren’t vaccinated with the Tdap shot right? come on, wake up.
Josh: Yes you are correct that we have survived for thousands of years without vaccines and yes if we completely discontinued use of vaccines we as a species would still survive. The issue is that of quality of life and lifespan. Vaccination has made it so that previous debilitating illnesses no longer cause disease (like polio which causes paralysis, tetanus which can cause lockjaw and death in 25% of patients without treatment). Furthermore, rather than die at an early age (from say smallpox) we now live much longer than in the past (average life span in 1900′s around 50, now past 70).
Justin: All nine infants that died of whooping cough had not received the TDaP vaccine (California Department of Health, PertussisReport2011-01-07). You are correct that two new vaccines for pertussis, diptheria, and tetanus came out in 2005. These had been shown in clinical trials to provide the same protection as the old TDP vaccine with less side effects. Previous vaccines against pertussis were developed in the 1930′s and were widely given starting in the mid 1940′s and have consistently been given for multiple decades. If you want to blame someone for the recent rise in pertussis blame the former British physician (he lost his medical license and is currently under investigation for fraud and falsifying information) who claimed that vaccines cause autism. This fear that vaccinations cause disease has led to a decrease in the number of people getting vaccinated and thus a pertussis epidemic. A historical example of this occurred in 1975 when the Japanese Ministry of Health decided to stop using the pertussis vaccine. In the three years before the vaccine was discontinued, there were 400 cases of pertussis and 10 deaths from pertussis in Japan. In the three years after the pertussis vaccine was discontinued, there were 13,000 cases of pertussis and 113 deaths! Sounds familiar to me….
Jake,
multiply all those vaccinations times .5 and see all the new problems that these vaccinations caused in the future. Your vaccines are Dudley Doorights that leave a trail of soft kill behind them. Any company that produces a product that they dont stand behind, aren’t liable for damages from, some how doesnt inspire confidence when they tout the safety of it to my common sense, … your mileage may vary.
In 2000, a study comparing the health of vaccinated and unvaccinated children between 1988 and 1994 found that a child who received DPT or tetanus vaccination was 50 percent more likely to experience severe allergic reactions, more than 80 percent more likely to experience sinusitis, and twice as likely to experience asthma as those who were not vaccinated.
The conclusion of the authors was that “asthma and other allergic hypersensitivity reactions and related symptoms may be causes, in part, by the delayed effects of DTP or tetanus vaccination.”
A healthy, mature immune system requires an equal balance of cellular (inate) and humoral (learned) immune system responses so that inflammatory responses do not remain unresolved and cause chronic illness. A disruption in immune function can lead to development of allergy and autoimmune disorders.
Vaccination does not exactly mimic the natural infection process and often by-passes cellular immunity in favor of humoral immunity. There have been persistent reports of development of autoimmune disorders and allergy after vaccination, including pertussis vaccination.
Fun fact: 3 million children die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases (World Health Organization)
I do not and will never vaccinate my kids. Why? Because, I breast fed them all for at least 3 years (breast really is best) ergo, they have HEALTY immune systems and have NEVER been sick. I also cook healthful organic foods diet. I don’t feed them junk or fast food, never have, never will. If you want to feed your kids crap every day that’s the risk you take.
Last year my neighbor had your same thought process. Then she and her school age daughters visited me and my 6 month baby old (breastfed) baby and unknowingly exposed us both to whooping cough. While she and her daughters just had minor discomfort from their cough my baby almost died. Part of living your choice of lifestyle should also be the consideration of those around you who can’t live your way; like the elderly and infants. By the way, we live an organic lifestyle, breast fed, healthy choice etc. too but we don’t see it as giving us the right to be ignorant, socially irresponsible fools.
So NONE of those 8383 that got infected had their vaccine??? Keep your herd vaccinated and you won’t have to worry about my 1 calf infecting them.
In 2000, a study comparing the health of vaccinated and unvaccinated children between 1988 and 1994 found that a child who received DPT or tetanus vaccination was 50 percent more likely to experience severe allergic reactions, more than 80 percent more likely to experience sinusitis, and twice as likely to experience asthma as those who were not vaccinated. The conclusion of the authors was that “asthma and other allergic hypersensitivity reactions and related symptoms may be causes, in part, by the delayed effects of DTP or tetanus vaccination.”
A healthy, mature immune system requires an equal balance of cellular (inate) and humoral (learned) immune system responses so that inflammatory responses do not remain unresolved and cause chronic illness. A disruption in immune function can lead to development of allergy and autoimmune disorders. Vaccination does not exactly mimic the natural infection process and often by-passes cellular immunity in favor of humoral immunity. There have been persistent reports of development of autoimmune disorders and allergy after vaccination, including pertussis vaccination.
Before you quote that study as evidence you probably should have read the summary and not just the abstract. They did not find a correlation between vaccination and allergy that could not be explained by other factors. From the actual stuy to which I have provided the link: “In summary, although our results in an observational cohort study demonstrated a positive association between vaccination and allergic disease, this association can be explained by ascertainment bias. These data, together with other published evidence, suggest that current vaccination practices do not have an adverse effect on the incidence of allergic disease.”