as you all know this is going around every where in the US right now. There was a article on our local paper that said the vaccine typically wears off by the time your child is 9!
It went on to say there are no other doses they can give after the last shot they typically get at age 5. This is very alarming to me. Seems with it being epidemic there needs to be some work done on a adult vaccine :rolleyes:

whooping cough is only dangerous to really young babies as far as i know. I would assume since there is no vaccination given to older children or adults that it isn't a health risk to them. And as far as i know it goes around pretty much every year. I remember when my 10 year old was born it was going around then, i didn't take him anywhere because he was under two months so he hadn't recieved the vacination yet. A friend of mines daughter was hospitatalized due to it, she had to be on oxygen and everything, very scary.
If you are concerned it is something that you need to disscuss with your doctor or do further research on to see if it is a valid concern and what you can do to lower your risk or the risk to any of your older children.

I think the common belief was that the disease had pretty much been erradicated until recently, so it wasn't a big deal. I know in my area problems started from an influx of refugees who'd moved to the area, never been vaccinated. Most of the people who got pertussis were in their early teens, but then because the medical community didn't recognize it as whooping cough -- it wasn't being treated appropriately -- with antibiotics, so it spread, became an epidemic. Wasn't until an older doctor recognized it, that they began issuing warnings, doing testing and giving antibiotics to everyone who came into close contact with someone who had it. DS's daycare was notified and the entire staff and kids were put on antibiotics.

Apparently there is an adult vaccine in Canada, but from what I've read they're not sure about effectiveness and there were some side effects issues.