Cough! Students Are Required to Have the Whooping Cough Vaccine For Next Year

Beginning July 1, 2011, all students in the state of California will be required to receive whooping cough vacccinations. All students entering seventh through 12th grade must have proof of a whooping cough booster shot before they start school next August. 

Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 354  into law earlier last  year. The number of people afflicted with the disease hit its highest level in 60 years in 2010, according to kidshealth.org. In 2010, a total of 9,477 cases of pertusis were reported statewide, including the deaths of 10 infants. State law already requires that kindergartners provide proof of vaccination for various diseases, including whooping cough. 

However, this bill marks the first time that older students must get a booster from their doctor. 

According to Las Lomas Nurse Kathi Mooney, the whooping cough is characterized by a loud, increasingly painful cough that usually lasts a couple of months and gets progressively worse.

Las Lomas junior Sydney Boral had the whooping cough early last school year.

"Basically, having the whooping cough felt like I was coughing up my lungs for hours, especially at nighttime," explained Boral. "I got the cough last year during Thanksgiving break, so I didn't miss any school, but I was lying on the couch in pain the entire week."

Las Lomas science teacher Jeff Merken feels that statewide immunization would be beneficial.

"Obviously [the government is] concerned," said Merken. "It's probably a good idea [to] keep everyone safe so they don't get it."

Mooney said that the whooping cough outbreak in recent years has led to a crackdown on immunization.

"Transmission is so easy in large groups of people, and students bring it home to babies, who are the most vulnerable," said Mooney.

However, she explained that Las Lomas has remained relatively untouched.

"Over the years, we've had several single cases, but no epidemics," said Mooney.

However, earlier this year, Walnut Creek Patch that three cases broke out at nearby

The Acalanes Union High School District is encouraging students to schedule an appointment with their physicians sometime between now and August in order for them to be permitted to attend school next year. Proof of immunization is also required during the residency verification process in August. 

"The state will audit [the] school without warning," Mooney explained. "Students who have not completed state-mandated vaccinations have been sent letters. The state mandates that students without vaccinations be excluded from school [for] two to three weeks."

Mooney went on to say, "In the past, schools have been lenient with kids who have not completed mandated immunizations," said Mooney.

This coming school year, students without proper proof of immunization will not be able to register for classes or begin school. Assembly Bill 354 does allow exemptions "for verified medical conditions or personal beliefs," according to the state Department of Public Health.

Still, through these precautions, school officials hope to protect students from experiencing what Boral went through.

"(The coughing) was so hard that it would wake me up in the middle of the night," said Boral. "I wish I had gotten the vaccination before then because it was an absolutely awful feeling."

A version of this article originally appeared in Las Lomas' The Page.