Whooping Cough Vaccine Protection Wanes Fast Sept. 12, 2012 --
2012 is shaping up to be the worst year for whooping cough in
more than five decades, and a new study from California may help
explain why. When researchers studied a 2010 outbreak in that
state, they found that protection among children vaccinated
against whooping cough (also known as pertussis) waned
dramatically during the five years after their last
immunization. Vaccines Safe, but Protection Doesn’t Last In the
U.S., most children receive five doses of the combined
diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTaP) vaccine, beginning at
around 2 months of age and ending between the ages of 4 and 6
years. Researchers have long suspected that a newer version of
the whooping cough vaccine, introduced in 1997, does not protect
as long as the older version. And this, they think, has
contributed to the increase in cases across the nation. The new
analysis of the California outbreak appears to confirm this.
“The current available vaccines are the safest that