With California in the midst of a whooping cough epidemic, state public health officials have broadened recommendations for those who should be immunized against the disease to include seniors and women in their childbearing years.

“We are facing what could be the worst year for pertussis that this state has seen in more than 50 years,” said Chief of the California Department of Public Health’s Center for Infectious Diseases Gilberto Chávez, M.D. “We are urging health providers to broaden their use of the pertussis vaccine and we are urging Californians to take the simple step of getting vaccinated to prevent pertussis.”

The California Medical Association has joined the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the California Academy of Family Physicians, and Kaiser Permanente in support of the CDPH’s recommendations:

In addition to the typical series of childhood pertussis immunizations, CDPH is now recommending an adolescent-adult pertussis booster vaccine (Tdap) for:

• anyone 7 years and older who is not fully immunized
• elderly patients aged 65 and older
• women of childbearing age, before, during, or immediately after pregnancy
• other people who have contact with pregnant women or infants

Pertussis has reached an epidemic level in California. For the first six months of this year, 1,496 cases of pertussis were reported, a five-fold increase from the same period last year, when only 258 cases were reported. An additional 700 possible cases of pertussis are under investigation.

Health care providers are also urged to receive the Tdap vaccine, to protect themselves and their patients.

For more information on pertussis vaccination, visit the CDPH website.

Contact: Veronica Ramirez, 916/551-2887 or vramirez@cmanet.org.