No Vaccination, No School—That’s the Law

This article was previously posted on Feb 16.

Time is closing in fast on deadlines to register your child for the 2011-12 school year.

But as you gather the necessary forms and documents, dot every “i” and cross every “t,” there’s one essential requirement you may have missed—a new California law now requires that all children in 7th through 12th grades receive a new whooping cough vaccination booster shot, or they will not be allowed to start school in the fall.

Educators and administrators in the Milpitas Unified School District have been spreading the news to families. Although the law doesn’t go into effect until July 1, most school districts across the Bay Area are setting early goal deadlines, to encourage families to fulfill the requirement sooner, rather than put it off.

Damon James, principal of Weller Elementary, says a notice was put in all school newsletters that went home with families in January, just after the law was passed.

James says he is confident that families in the MUSD will take the requirement seriously and get it done. As the principal of an elementary school, the new law does not directly apply to his students, but since many children over the age of 10 are supposed to get the booster vaccination anyway, James says his school is doing its part to help spread the word.

"Most people are steadfast and want their kids healthy at school,” he said. “We know kids transit germs, so let's make sure the ones we transmit are curable."

Some Bay Area school districts have only as little as 10 percent compliance so far. Dr. Ken Purdy, a pediatric infectious-disease specialist at , says the number of families going in for the vaccination is looking good.

“I checked our data, and so far, about 54 to 57 percent of all our teen Kaiser members have already come in to get the booster shot,” Purdy said, adding that the high compliance rate is credited to the diligence of Kaiser’s health professionals in recommending the shot to all patients—if you go in for a regular checkup or a bump or bruise, they suggest you get the shot right then and there, as you’re at the doctor’s office already.

Although the law is only a few months old, Purdy said Kaiser has recommended the shot to his patients older than 10 for about five years now, every since the Santa Clara County Public Health Department started recommending the new booster shot to all local families.

Why the new law? Assembly Bill 354 was passed by the state legislature in September 2010 in response to the largest outbreak of whopping cough—also known as pertussis—among children in California since the 1940s. According to reports, roughly 6,000 suspected cases in children were reported in the state in 2010, including as many as 10 infants who died from the disease.

Parents may recall their children getting the whooping cough vaccination, or “Dtap,” as a young child—most babies are given the vaccination in three doses at 2 months, 4 months and 6 months of age, and by kindergarten, children are required to have received five doses in total, according to the California Department of Public Health. However, the vaccination wears off after time, usually within five to 10 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Therefore, the new law was passed to ensure all children get a pertussis “booster vaccine”—called Tdap—before the start of the 2011-12 school year. It is also recommended that all adults who spend a significant amount of time around young children, especially infants, get a new booster vaccine as well.

Purdy says this new “teen/adult” version of the pertussis vaccine is even safer than the older version that was used up until five years ago.

“The teen/adult version of the vaccine contains one-third of the amount of the acellular pertussis antigens in the pediatric vaccines,” he explained. “An older pertussis vaccine, called DTP, is no longer used in the U.S., because it had more significant side effects than the newer vaccines, which are made with components of the pertussis bacteria, rather than killed, whole bacteria. The newer vaccines, DTaP and Tdap, are called acellular vaccines for this reason, rather than whole-cell vaccines.”

Purdy said the threat of whooping cough is indeed a serious one.

“As far as I can remember, Kaiser Milpitas treated at least a dozen whooping cough cases last year,” he said.

Therefore, Milpitas educators appear thankful that families are heeding the notices and getting it done. Susan Ausberry, a full-time school nurse for MUSD, cautions those families who have not yet visited the doctor to get their shots not to forget—after all, come the first day of school in the fall, your child will be turned away without it.

“Since [the requirement] doesn’t really start until July, I know [some families] haven’t really started moving on it yet,” she said. “So really, it’s just keeping on, getting the word out.”

Note: As with all school vaccination requirements, families who choose not to vaccinate or have a medical condition that prohibits it may fill out forms to be exempted from the requirements.

For more information about this new law, visit:

cdph.ca.gov/programs/immunize/Documents/EarlyAlertToProviders-AB354.pdf