DuPage Health Department to Parents: Some Students Need Whooping Cough Vaccine

Summer isn’t over, but students will soon be heading back to school. Parents need to know about new immunization requirements for some students.

As a result of the rise in outbreaks of whooping cough, students entering 6th through 12th grade must show proof they have received one dose of Tdap vaccine.

The immunization requirements changed and the DuPage County Health Department wants to make sure parents are informed. The Tdap vaccine includes a combination of tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis (whooping cough).

Whooping cough can be transmitted easily through coughing and sneezing and the illness may persist for weeks or months, according to a news release from the DuPage County Health Department. Outbreaks of pertussis continue to occur among school children in Illinois.

In healthy children, pertussis does not cause severe illness, but can still cause long absences from school, according to the health department.

Pertussis can be transmitted from healthy students to infants and those with chronic illness. The illness can be life-threatening to those populations.

Many students may have already received the vaccine and in those cases, parents only need to provide the school with verifying documentation, the health department said. Parents should check with a school or school district for the accepted documentation.

Pharmacies and local health departments provide Tdap vaccinations, including the DuPage County Health Department, participate in the Vaccines for Children program, which provides vaccines to Medicaid-eligible children younger than 19 years of age.