Study: Whooping cough outbreak linked to vaccinated children

[Celebration]

An investigation by California doctors has revealed that the state's latest outbreak of whooping cough centered around children who had already received the whooping cough vaccine, Reuters reports.

The study, led by infectious disease specialist Dr. David Witt, was initiated after an unusually large number of whooping cough cases were admitted to Kaiser Permanente Hospital in San Rafael, California in 2010.

After examining the records of juvenile whooping cough patients over an 8-month period, the doctors discovered that 81 percent of patients had received the full series of whooping cough shots, and 11 percent had received only some of the shots. The remaining 8 percent had not received any immunizations for whooping cough.

................................................

Unfortunately, drug maker Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK), the manufacturer of the whooping cough vaccine, did not bother to perform long-term studies of its effectiveness. A company spokesperson confirmed this disturbing fact in an email to Reuters, stating that GSK never studied the duration of the vaccine's protection after the shot was given to four- to six-year-olds.

Whooping cough outbreak linked to vaccinated children

[Ian David]

1. Looks like it's back to the drawing board for the whooping cough vaccine. n/t

[PADemD]

2. My immunity lasted only 10 years.

[flamingdem]

3. cough ..

That's amazing they did no follow up study, yeesh. Nice that it spread throughout the schools in CA impacting adults as well. Has anyone here had it? Milder for adults but a long lasting cough thingy.

[PADemD]

4. Yes, at age 11

See my post above.

[kickysnana]

6. My grandkids were exposed at Easter from their Wiscosin Cousins

WI cousins came down with it a few days later. The oldest one is 9 and I didn't hear of anymore cases than the one family and Mom did not answer the question whether the kids had had the vaccine.

My Aunt who is now 77 got whooping cough and almost died from it so it can be dangerous but not quite as dangerous as measles.

[bemildred]

5. This smells like a lawsuit. nt

[kestrel91316]

7. Why would anyone assume LONG-term protection from ANY vaccine?

Unless there is proof, it's best to assume you DON'T get long-term protection. Perhaps pediatricians should reconsider their blithe assumptions.

[Celebration]

9. well, how long would YOU suggest between vaccines?

Given that there were no studies done.........

[Warpy]

10. Exactly, when I was a kid, they assumed it was lifetime protection

and the vaccine they had at the time was dangerous to give kids over 5. Since then, they've found that vaccines have a limited time span. Fortunately, they've developed a vaccine that is safe in older kids and now there's one for adults.

This article the OP cited is very poorly written, a hamfisted indictment of vaccines. Tracking it to the original Reuter's article gives a very different picture of what is actually going on, that they're waiting too long to give teenagers and young adults booster shots.

It's always smarter to track hysterical journalism such as that from Digital Journal to the original source. The original source generally has something quite different to say.

[HuckleB]

11. +1

[Dawson Leery]

8. The old vaccine was garbage and apparently so is the new one.

[HuckleB]

12. See post 10 for a correction to your assumptions.