Pertussis and New Recommendation

It is a well know fact that I support vaccinations. I become irritated when I think about the cases of pertussis that takes the life of an infant because herd immunity is losing its protection. These gaps allow these vaccine preventable diseases to find their way back into the general population. Just the other day on my Facebook wall, there was a comment from someone who is against vaccines. They were told their insurance would no longer cover well visits because she doesn't vaccinate her children. I believe this is the directions insurance companies will go. Vaccinate or no coverage. I do not agree with taking away choice. But truly, if we didn't need insurance and paid for our own healthcare (who does that?) we could make our own decisions.

The CDC now recommends that pregnant women get a dose of the Tdap every time they are pregnant rather than the one time booster if they had not previously received the vaccine. Dr. William Schaffner, who is the chair of the department of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt School of Medicine, suspects that a proportion of babies who die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome are caused by pertussis.