Pertussis Vaccination Requirement

From the California Department of Education - News Release

A new state law requires students entering or advancing to grades seven through twelve in the 2011–12 school year to be immunized with a pertussis vaccine booster called Tdap. The new requirement goes into effect July 1, 2011, for one year and affects all students—current, new, and transfers—in public and private schools.

Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is a highly contagious disease that can be debilitating at any age and lethal to infants. The pertussis epidemic has caused disease in more than 9,000 people in 2010 and persists today. Pertussis infections occur year-round, but typically peak over the summer and fall, causing widespread illness and absenteeism in students and school staff. Vaccination offers prompt protection against pertussis. For more information, please visit Shots For School [http://www.shotsforschool.org/] (Outside Source).

Read more of the California Department Of Education News Release HERE.

Got a Problem With Vaccines? You Can't Sue the Manufacturer

By Nirvi Shah from On Special Education

My colleague Mark Walsh writes today about a Supreme Court ruling that nixes attempts to sue drug manufacturers over the side effects of their vaccines.

The case was brought on behalf of Hannah Bruesewitz, now 19, who suffered seizures and has had developmental disabilities since having a bad reaction to a diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine known as Tri-Immunol as an infant in 1992.

In the 6-2 ruling, Mark reports that "Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissent joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She said the majority's decision 'leaves a regulatory vacuum in which no one ensures that vaccine manufacturers adequately take account of scientific and technological advancements when designing or distributing their products'."

See article HERE.