No Shot, No School: Whooping Cough Gets Tough on Local Students

Though most students are more focused on spring break than back-to-school, health officials want you to know you won't be allowed back next August without a jab.

With vaccination season in swing, many parents and districts are scrambling to prepare for a new law that would require students to get an additional pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine before returning to school in the fall. 

In September of 2010, then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill that would require all entering 7th to 12th grade students to receive a Tdap booster—the sixth in the series—before returning for the 2011-12 school year.

That bill came in response to a massive outbreak of whooping cough that killed 10 and sickened nearly 10,000, the largest occurrence of the disease in California in 65 years. 

According to a California Department of Public Health report released early last month, more than 500 California cases have been reported since January.

But according to a CDC (Centers for Disease Control, a federal program) report released Thursday, 80 cases were reported in the last week of March alone. A dozen more were reported the following week.  

Much of the blame for the California outbreak has been laid with parents who used the state's "personal belief exemption" to avoid vaccinations for their children.

Because "exempters" (as they're called in public health circles) tend to cluster—mostly in white, affluent communities—the overall immunity rate of the community becomes depressed.

But, as we reported last year, the south county's diversity may be its best protection.  

According to several experts, heavily immigrant communities tend to fear infectious disease more than potential risks from vaccines, most of which scientists and health experts say are unfounded. 

"We see big differences in the ethnic community the parents are coming from," said Dr. Arnd Herz, head of pediatrics at Kaiser Permanente Hayward, at the height of the outbreak in October. "We take care of a large immigrant population, and by and large most immigrant populations very much believe in the power of vaccines. They have seen deaths from infectious diseases, which is not something the average person in the Bay Area has seen."

As we wrote last fall, most districts in the south county had only a tiny handful of personal belief exemptions last year. 

By contrast, Albany and Berkeley had rates of 3 and 5 percent, respectively. (To view vaccination rates by school, click here).

Across the Bay in Marin County, the exemption rate exceeds 7 percent. So far, caseloads have tended to reflect this trend.

But another startling trend emerged in last year's mini-epidemic. 

The rate of infection was highest in the Latino community, where attitudes toward vaccination tend to be positive. 

Health experts believe that lack of access to care, including vaccines, may have been to blame. 

That's why Alameda County health care providers want you to know it's easy to get the booster for free if you haven't had it. 

Alameda Public Health Department will provide free Tdap immunizations at:

     The Family Justice Center

     470 – 27th St., Oakland

     Thursday, April 21, and Thursday, April 28

     10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Free vaccines will also be sponsored by Remote Area Medical at:

     The Oakland Coliseum

     Monday, April 11

     9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

If your school-age child has been regularly vaccinated according to the CDC's recommended schedule, he or she may have already received the Tdap booster at age 11 or 12. Check with your health care provider to be sure.