Leave it to Science-Based Medicine to give a thorough and complete evaluation of the current situation as well as sage advice about not being too quick to point the finger of blame. Today’s post by Joseph Albeitz (Californians give a whoop – or I hope they do) provides excellent information on pertussis, the history of the disease, the symptoms, the threats, the vaccine, and all the details in between. Give it a read, it’s an excellent overview.
Remember, just because nobody’s sick where you live doesn’t mean that things won’t change. We have small outbreaks of pertussis in the province I live in every year, and there are plenty of people travelling in and out of affected regions every day. From what I gather from the article, though I am by no means an expert and am merely interpreting, it is primarily the adult population that are the pool for this virus. Adults often do not realize that their vaccination from grade 9 does not provide life-long immunity. I know I was unaware of this fact. It is recommended that ten years after the immunization, another is provided, but it is not known at this time if another will be necessary ten years after that.
My friend Tammy (HI TAMMY!) often comments here and has asked about more details about the vaccine. This linkis the Alberta Health and Wellness documentation about the DTaP vaccine, but to go one better I’m on hold with our local Health Link. Oh wait, it’s ringing… Now I’m on hold with the Communicable Diseases folks, who actually answered the phone, “Hello, communicable diseases.” I wanted to say, “No, it’s me, Jim. I’m not a communicable disease…”
For those in the Calgary area, the DTaP shot is available for $77 at any CHC location. The link will take you to Google Maps to see what’s nearby.
As with any epidemic, the answers are never clear until the data is evaluated. It is easy to blame the antivaxxers for a vaccine-preventable disease re-surging like this, but it is premature and likely one of many contributing factors.
Jim
