Sicilia points out that the pertussis vaccine isn't perfect and its protection wanes after about five years.
Better diagnostics may be detecting more cases, but plenty are a result of a wearing-off of the pediatric pertussis vaccine.
The pertussis vaccine, called DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis) has been responsible for a dramatic drop in whooping cough in recent decades.
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Infants typically receive the first part of the pertussis vaccine series at 2, 4 and 6 months as a component called DTaP.
Not only is NVIC trying to scare parents away from the pertussis vaccine, but the group takes the opportunity to warn against many other vaccines.
Health officials are urging everyone who hasn't had a pertussis vaccine in the past five years or -- doesn't remember if they had one -- to get the shot.
So we can thank NVIC and other anti-vaccine groups, such as Generation Rescue (which claims, among many other mistaken notions, t hat the pertussis vaccine causes autism), for the re-emergence of whooping cough.
Since the pertussis vaccine's protection can wear off with time, a booster shot is recommended for adolescents at their 11-year-old checkup visit, as well as for adults who care for young infants, in order to protect from whooping cough until the babies have their own immunity.
Still, eight of 10 had the Tdap vaccine for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, while 63 percent had the MCV4 meningococcal vaccine.
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The pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine has been failing us, because immunity against it fades.
It says women should receive a vaccine for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, together known as Tdap, toward the end of pregnancy, or between 27 and 36 weeks' gestation.
Babies and children are vaccinated against pertussis, diphtheria and tetanus through a similar vaccine that's referred to as Dtap in a five-dose series during infancy and up to age 6.
Encouraged, they introduced the DTP vaccine, which protects children from diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (still a top seller), followed by an anti-snake-venom serum for snakebites.
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