MY county is having a pertussis outbreak alert. There have been a number of confirmed cases and the schools in the county are not sending children on any events to other schools. All field trips and sports competitions with other schools have been cancelled.
Since my children have not been immunized against pertussis, I called the health dept to find out about the vaccine. I'm not so much worried about them, but thought that I might as well, that the shot would probably not hurt them at this point and it would be a community health type thing to do.
The woman at the health dept was in no way helpful, I guess she doesn't have to worry about customer satisfaction since she works for the county. I was totally surprised to find out that the vaccine is not free! I thought they would be heavily recruiting and encouraging the public to get immunized against this in the face of this outbreak. Many people opted out of the pertussis vaccine and only got their kids the Diphtheria/Tetorifice one.
She told me that they got the vaccines for free but they had to charge something to help cover the cost of the nurse giving it, so it's a minimum of $5 on up to $35 depending on income. I told her that I thought that was ridiculous, to forget it. She acted like she couldn't care less.
I figured you all would be outraged. Very predictable.
What I don't get is why the county health dept doesn't want to organize vaccines at the schools for free like they did with small pox years ago. You have a so called public health emergency and no apparent organized response. In the literature sent home by the school they didn't even say where to go to get the vaccine, they just described the symptoms and said that pertussis was only a real danger to children under 1 year old. The health dept is 30 miles away and they aren't even promoting their vaccine.
Many people did not get the pertussis vaccine for their kids. Some people question some vaccines.
We have all this stimulus money pouring in. Our library, for our town of 1000 people managed to get $800,000 I heard even though there is a better library 2 miles away in a slightly larger town. What a waste of money I say. Yet the county doesn't have a plan to get kids vaccinated against pertussis in the event of an outbreak that could lead to an epidemic?
I'll be honest...the "organization" effort was made when you took your children, for what I am presuming, regular pediatric care, and the vaccination was available, probably with payment from your insurance company, at the same time you signed all those waivers.
All the mothers need to know, that choose not to be on the "vaccine bandwagon"...their reasoning is that "well, if other children are vaccinated, then I don't have to worry about it."
Well, now you know why...b/c of other parents that had the same mindset.
You are an RN...I'm not (as of yet)....however, the very fear of the possibility of my child choking to death and hemmoraging in their lungs would be enough for me to pay them any amount that they WANTED to make sure my kids were taken care of...then again, I followed their immunization schedule to the letter.
I bet a dollar that those parents aren't the least bit worried about their own children during the outbreak.
We have all this stimulus money pouring in. Our library, for our town of 1000 people managed to get $800,000 I heard even though there is a better library 2 miles away in a slightly larger town. What a waste of money I say. Yet the county doesn't have a plan to get kids vaccinated against pertussis in the event of an outbreak that could lead to an epidemic?
What you apparently don't have is money pouring into the health department for the purchase of costly vaccine doses and personnel to plan, schedule, advertise and run clinics.
I doubt that the library is going to fork over their stimulus gains to fund a public health initiative.
Perhaps you could contact the Obama administration and vent your displeasure at the mis-spending of stimulus money. Although for the life of me, I don't know how a grant to either a library or a vaccine clinic will create significant numbers of well-paying jobs, which was supposedly the purpose of stimulus money.
Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.
twenty years ago our neighbor did not vaccinate her kids for pertussis...child was sick for 2nd week with cough and slight fever so kept my kids away. was asked to listen to his lungs wk 3, heard the high pitched cough/stridor and told her thought chiild had pertussis and needed to go back to ped dr.
child was hospitalized almost died as dr had never seen case...she changed doctors after that and regretted for years not having child vaccinated.
investing in my sons lifelong health more important: ounce of prevention worth pound of cure with this illness.
pertussis (widely known as whooping cough) is one of the most contagious diseases around. caused by a bacterium (bordetella pertussis), whooping cough makes children cough uncontrollably. with the cough so hard and so persistent children oftentimes can't catch their breath. children make a "whooping" sound when they attempt to breathe in against a windpipe severely narrowed by mucus. pneumonia or seizures can also develop.
pertussis is unusual in that most children catch the disease from adults and not other children. it is estimated that every year in the united states between 600,000 and 900,000 adults and adolescents get pertussis!
before the pertussis vaccine
whooping cough is highly contagious and deadly. prior to the vaccine, pertussis caused about 8,000 deaths in the united states every year. now about 10 children die every year from pertussis.
My point is that they just should be free period. It's not whether I can pay for them or not. I don't particularly believe in vaccines, but I thought I'd do my public duty and get what I assumed would be a free vaccine for all, in the face of a potential epidemic. Yes, I'm disgusted that a nation that can spend billions on an unnecessary foreign war, sends billions in foreign aide to get foreign children vaccinated for free, can't get it together to meet a local health emergency by setting up vaccine centers in each school for kids. They do it with the flu vaccine.
So, you are not getting your kids vaccinated during an outbreak to make a point?
You'd have more credibility in my book if you had your children immunized now and then launched a campaign to find funding for future vaccination drives.
What annoys me is not the cost, but the fact that it probably came from some other kid whose parents decided not to vaccinate against pertussis.
Actually it was probably a parent whose protection has waned. We catch it, think we have a bad cough that won't go away, and then we infect the children who were not immunized (whether it's because their parents didn't chose to or because they're too young for the vaccine).
Fire: I don't know what state you're in. Check the state board of health website, in particular about immunizations. If it is a state supplied vaccine, it should be free (again, depending on the state).
I live in NC: Last year they passed a new law that rising 5th graders would be required to receive a TDaP shot. This was due to the rising amt. of cases of pertussis, and this is about the time some of the immunity begins to wane away. They're also recommending it for adults since we're usually the transmitters. We are doing clinics in the schools for the 5th graders to receive their immunizations. We'll file insurance if they have it, but it's free to them at no cost.
But you're right, it should be free. I'd still be willing to pay the small amt. to cover my kids, but I don't think that was the point you were trying to make. There are people out there who are at risk, without insurance, who can't afford the $5 to get the shot (or even to get to the clinics).
Here is a link to NC's rules about who qualifies for the free vaccines (from the state supplied). I would assume your state does something similar, but it's worth checking into.
Public duty is not why you get your kids vaccinated, you vaccinate your children because it is a parental responsibility. Public duty is where you (as a health care professional) encourage and teach, other young parents the importance of vaccinating their children, before their is an epidemic.
Haven't read all these responses, but my 45 year old brother was just diagnosed with pertussis. I had sent him to a doctor 2 months ago because he stated he was almost passing out with the cough, and couldn't inhale while coughing - his airway spasmed shut. Then i heard the whoop. Never heard a cough like that. Not everyone whoops either. (the doc back then said sinus infection but gave no antibiotics so he passed it on to us and hopefully not to my 2 month old nephew who cannot begin his pertussis series till 6 months old) You can hear the sound of the cough at http://www.pertussis.com/hear.html
MOST KIDS WHO GET THIS GET IT FROM ADULTS WHO THINK THEY HAVE A COLD AT FIRST BECAUSE THE COUGH DOESN"T START TILL 2 WEEKS AFTER THEY GET IT. THEY DON"T GET IT USUALLY FROM OTHER KIDS> INFANTS cannot be fully vaxd till 18 months and immunity from the childhood series wears off around age 15 THAT is why adults are getting it. The series does not impart lifelong immunity. THERE IS NOW SINCE 2005 A BOOSTER FOR 15 years on up. I got the TDaP today. Even though my 78 year old mom and I have already gotten this from my brother back in October. We had then got diagnosed with bronchitis (which you can have at the same time as pertussis) and given a ZPAK-which can work on pertussis. He didn't get any antibiotic but when I found out he was finally diagnosed I got my TDaP today. TDaP is a good thing to educate yourself on. Jennifer Lopez is a perussis spokesperson. Please educate yourself for a child.
BTW the cough is brutal and can be petrifying. You literally cannot get air into your lungs. It is the scariest thing in the world. That is why it is so dangerous for infants. Sometimes they get a paroxysm and it spasms shut and they just don't start breathing again. It is insidious and scary.
I was totally surprised to find out that the vaccine is not free! I thought they would be heavily recruiting and encouraging the public to get immunized against this in the face of this outbreak. Many people opted out of the pertussis vaccine and only got their kids the Diphtheria/Tetorifice one. 
BabyLady, BSN, RN
2,300 Posts
I'll be honest...the "organization" effort was made when you took your children, for what I am presuming, regular pediatric care, and the vaccination was available, probably with payment from your insurance company, at the same time you signed all those waivers.
All the mothers need to know, that choose not to be on the "vaccine bandwagon"...their reasoning is that "well, if other children are vaccinated, then I don't have to worry about it."
Well, now you know why...b/c of other parents that had the same mindset.
You are an RN...I'm not (as of yet)....however, the very fear of the possibility of my child choking to death and hemmoraging in their lungs would be enough for me to pay them any amount that they WANTED to make sure my kids were taken care of...then again, I followed their immunization schedule to the letter.
I bet a dollar that those parents aren't the least bit worried about their own children during the outbreak.