Whooping Cough Immunization Deadline May Be Extended

Officials with the Glendora Unified School District may have an additional 30 days to verify that students are vaccinated against whooping cough due to legislation passed last week. The news coincides with a slow response by some parents to submit proof of immunization paperwork as required by law.

Under the new state law, students entering or advancing to grades seven through 12 in the 2011–12 school year must be immunized with a pertussis booster called the Tdap vaccine. That requirement went into effect July 1 and covers all students—current, new, and transfers—in public and private schools. But state Senate Bill 614, which legislators passed last week, grants districts an extra 30 days after classes start to verify vaccinations.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson is hailing last week’s legislative decision.

“I’m grateful that the Legislature has recognized our schools need some extra time to meet the immunization deadline,” he said in a July 14 news release. “We don’t want to see students lose precious learning time or be turned away from classes at the start of school.”

Glendora Unified District Nurse Catherine Le said in January that the district would not prevent students who still do not have their pertussis shots by the first day of school from attending classes, however their parents will be notified of the mandatory requirement.

According to a July 15 report from University of Southern California Annenberg School’s Center for Health Reporting, the state documented 9,120 cases of whooping cough, or pertussis, last year – the most in more than half a century. Ten of those cases were infant deaths, the report found. Torlakson’s office reports the number has risen to more than 11,000 cases since last year.

For more information on whooping cough and the mandatory vaccine, visit ShotsForSchool.org.

Glendora residents may receive free whooping cough shots from the Monrovia Public Health Center in Monrovia.

Monrovia Public Health Center
330 W. Maple Avenue
626-256-1600
Immunizations:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.

For more information on pertussis and the Tdap vaccine, visit the California Department of Education’s Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/hn/pertussis.asp.