New Whooping Cough Vaccine Requirements Approved for 2013-14 School Year
The Illinois State Board of Health recently approved the new requirements. So far this year, 30 cases of whooping cough have been reported in McHenry County while 299 cases were reported in 2012.
High school students will need to get a whooping cough vaccine next school year under new requirements recently approved by the Illinois State Board of Health. All sixth through twelfth grade students will be required to receive one booster shot of Tdap, which is an immunization against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough) for the 2013-14 school year, according to the McHenry County Department of Health press release. Last year, students in sixth through ninth grades were first required to get the vaccine before the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year, according to a District 300 press release. “Immunization is a shared responsibility,” said Patrick J. McNulty, administrator for the McHenry County Department of Health (…
