Vaccinating To Prevent Whooping Cough

An eight-week-old baby died from pertussis, also known as whooping cough — a highly contagious but vaccine-preventable disease.

Since infants get their first pertussis vaccination at two months, new guidelines recommend vaccinating pregnant women and adults in contact with infants as a strategy for protecting newborns.

Guests:

• Rachel Zimmerman, co-host of CommonHealth
• Ben Kruskal, pediatrician and director of infection control and travel medicine at Harvard Vanguard,  director of infectious diseases at Atrius Health

More:

• CommonHealth: From First Cold To Grave: How Two-Month-Old Brady Died Of Pertussis
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
• Learn the basics: Pertussis (Whooping Cough) Homepage
• Check your age group: Pertussis: Summary of Vaccine Recommendations
• Take the quiz: What vaccines do you need?
• Recommended immunization schedules
• Massachusetts Department of Public Health:
• Pertussis Epidemiology in Massachusetts, Recommendations for DTaP and Tdap Vaccines