Whooping Cough Could Be Prevented with Vaccine; CDC Recommends Kids Should Get 5 Shots Between the Ages 2 Months and 6 Years

As the fall season comes, doctors are urging the public to get their flu vaccines and COVID-19 boosters although there are other recommended vaccines they say people, especially children, need to get.

As per KEPR, according to Dr. Susanna Block, a Pediatric Hospitalist at Kaiser Permanente Washington, whooping cough is perhaps falling through the cracks that we're just not talking about it as much as other things right now.

Whooping cough, also called "pertussis," can be very dangerous for at-risk individuals. It is a severe and very contagious respiratory illness. Doctors said that this is the time of year they're seeing infections rise.

The American Lung Association or ALA reported that those suffering from asthma are four times more likely to have an increased risk of infection and complications, also if there's a new baby at home.

Whooping Cough, Preventable With a Vaccine

Block also said one would want to be sure that nobody has a fever, that no one is coughing, that the immunization of people are up to date, and that they are COVID-19 negative. All of these things can be done to keep the bay from falling ill, Block added.

What's great is that whooping cough is preventable with a vaccine although the ALA said only 30 percent of the American adults were given a vaccine in the past decade.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends children need to get five shots of DTaP between the ages of two months and six years old.

Essentially, Block explained, whooping cough in a baby can, in fact, results in episodes where they stop breathing so it is really a remarkable medical illness in infants.

Children aged between 11 and 12 years old need to get one of TDaP. Meanwhile, pregnant women are advised to get injected with TDaP during the early part of their pregnancy's third trimester and all adults who never had the vaccine shot should get one, the doctors advised.

Causes of Whooping Cough

A Boston University report specified that whooping cough, caused by the Bordetella pertussis bacteria is no longer a normal condition for the majority of Americans.

The US started widespread vaccinations in the 1940s, which almost eliminated the disease. However, whooping cough has been on the rise for the past 20 years despite record rates of vaccination.

In 2016, more than 15,000 people in the US came down with the disease and seven people were reported dead.

The question "why" now arises. According to an associate professor of global health at Boston University School of Public Health, it is because the vaccine is not working well or is not effective in the way it is anticipated.

During the mid-1990s, doctors in the US began to switch from a vaccine that contains whole bacteria to an "acellular" vaccine, one that's containing only some components of the germ.

The DTaP Vaccine

In response, scientists developed and crafted a second-generation vaccine, one that contained only particular and what was considered at the time to be crucial, proteins from Bordetella pertussis.

In clinical trials, the new "acellular" vaccine appeared to be effective, with few side effects. It appeared like a slam dunk, explained Gill.

Consequently, the United States and other countries switched to newer vaccines. Most American kids are not getting vaccinated for whooping cough with tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis or DTaP.

Related information about the DTaP vaccine is shown on FirstCry Parenting's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on Vaccines in Science Times.