Pertussis booster

Hi all. I've been researching on whether itpers can get the pertussis ( whooping cough )booster. I know we can't have "live" vaccines. And doing the research so far ( I just started ), there is conflicting information. The Mayo Clinic info says it may not work for immune compromised people. Another site said it was not a live vaccine. I haven't found anything about adults with itp being o.k. getting it. I also realise it's a crap shoot, some may be fine, others may crash. I'm going to call my hema and ask, I'm pretty sure he'll say the same thing, "we don't know. Some people would be fine, some not)."
My first grandchild is due in October. I live in South Dakota, my daughter lives in Boston. I was planning on flying out to be there when the baby is born. Now my daughter is telling me her doctor wants everyone who's going to be around the baby needs to have the booster. Also with the flying, being in airports, there could be a higher chance of picking this disease up.
I have 3 autoimmune diseases and no spleen. So what are your thoughts? Anyone know anything about this? Thank you! :S

It doesn't look like the vaccine is very effective...

"In fact, the study showed that 81 percent of 2010 California whooping cough cases in people under the age of 18 occurred in those who were fully up to date on the whooping cough vaccine. Eleven percent had received at least one shot, but not the entire recommended series, and only eight percent of those stricken were unvaccinated."

from this website:

articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/30/whooping-cough-vaccine.aspx?e_cid=20120730_DNL_artNew_1

Thank you Ananta. This is all so complicated. I know my daughter is going to insist on the booster. A few different places said for immunocompromised people, immune response may not be obtained. I decided to throw the dice and get it, but how would I know if it worked or not? A magical test that says "YES! You are now protected!" Probably not. If there is even 1 in 5 thousand billion kazillion chances I could infect the baby then I'm not going when she/he is born.

Flippy! It's your granddaughter! All you can do is get the vaccine. If it doesn't work, it's not your fault. You could catch anything from people on the plane and infect the baby, but what are the chances of that? Wash your hands before you touch her and you'll be fine.

If your daughter is keeping current with the news, she'll find many references where other countries are now determining that the concept of "cocooning" the newborn is simply not an effective way of preventing whooping cough. Here is one site that references an abundance of news reports and studies that show what a myth it is when we're told that the whooping cough vaccine is protective. I am not sure how anyone could believe that it is, after reading account after account, showing pretty much just the opposite:

A collection of mainstream news reports and studies exploding the whooping cough vaccine myth
www.dailypaul.com/167931/a-collection-of-mainstream-news-reports-and-studies-exploding-the-whooping-cough-vaccine-myth#comment-2447025


Australia ends free vaccines for adults because it's ineffective

States ending free parent whooping vaccine

PARENTS across Australia will no longer receive free whooping cough vaccinations because it is not effective in protecting newborns from the potentially deadly illness, a parliamentary committee has heard.

...a Victorian Parliamentary Accounts and Estimates Committee hearing on Tuesday, Department of Health divisional executive director Chris Brook said states were abandoning the "cocooning" program from June 30.

He said the national Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) had determined vaccinating parents was not effective in protecting newborns, after two pharmaceutical manufacturers made submissions to the PBAC.

"The PBAC, which is totally independent and very expert, has determined that there is no clinical effectiveness of this strategy," Professor Brook said. He said this had made it clear the cocooning strategy should not be continued.

"So all jurisdictions who have been in this program will be effectively ceasing the cocooning strategy as of the end of June this year."

www.news.com.au/breaking-news/states-ending-free-pare ...

If your daughter has had whooping cough, she will pass on her imunity through her breast milk. If she never obtained natural immunity (see the above article that ananta posted for the differences btw naturally acquired and vaccine acquired immunity), there IS another way, and it's quite effective. You can read about it here:
www.thinktwice.com/nosodes.htm

The doctor referred to here was Dr. Dorothy Shepherd, a Homeopathic pediatrician in the 1940's. Though no longer living, she did write a number of books that described her years as a pediatrician, what worked and what didn't.
She had great success preventing whooping cough with a homeopathic prophylactic remedy.

And, after reading her accounts, it appears that history is repeating itself, as the vaccine didn't seem to confer immunity very well then, either.

When a local school was having to cancel entire elementary classes because of the large number of absences of students and teachers due to pertussis, one of the Kindergarten teachers approached me to see if there was anything to stop or slow down the spread. Out of three Kindergarten classes, one was heavily infected almost entirely, the other two had a couple children each who had just begun the coughing.

Of the class that I treated prophylactically with a homeopathic medicine, the only two who got it were the two whose mothers had refused the homeopathic prophylaxis, as they were both already immunized and up-to-date. The other kindergarten class was soon like the first, with nearly every child and teacher infected. The treated class never did develop any whooping cough. The infected children's parents chose one of three paths: they treated with antibiotics, they did nothing but used various herbs and supplements, or they had me treat them homeopathically. Antibiotics supposedly keep the pertussis from being spread. (Whether or not there is any scientific study or basis for this statement , does not seem to keep them from repeating it!) One thing I have observed, is these were the same children that kept getting various colds, flus and illnesses for the rest of the year. They did not seem to have a strong immune system. Because of the content of vaccines, they actually WEAKEN the body to a great degree. And, hyper-stimulating the immune system with the adjuvants contained in a vaccine, is one of the probable ways in which auto-iimune disease starts.

Hi Sandi...yeah I know the chances of me picking this up is slim. I just have to discuss it with my daughter and see what she thinks. Thank you

Hi April, yes I did read about cocooning. I think my daughter is trying to be on the safe side and she's doing what her doc says, no questions asked. Like I used to do before I learned better. Thanks

Yes April, she had all her shots when she was a baby and never had whooping cough.She had the booster a few weeks ago, she's started her 3rd trimester. And she is going to breastfeed (thank god, I was a La Leche League mom when I fed my 2 kids). I did read ananta's link. All I can do is talk to her and she'll decide. I just read thee "think twice" article. Wow! Thank you.

This is quite an interesting discussion. To stay away from a baby because an immunized person might pass on a disease because there's a chance that immunization may not be effective? Wow. I feel bad that you have to worry about this Flippy at a time when you should be happy. What is the world coming to?

I thought I was overly cautious the other day when I argued with my husband over a wooden spoon. He'd used it to make chicken and was hand washing it. I asked him to please put it in the dishwasher where the water and steam are much hotter and would kill bacteria. I am on Prednisone and Methotrexate and didn't want to risk it. He argued that it was clean. We went back and forth until I finally said "What will it hurt to just stick it in the dishwasher"? I was ready to stick it someplace else, but he complied.

Yeah this sucks. Hopefully we'll come to some sort of agreement. Your spoon story made me laugh...I won't even HAVE a wooden spoon in the house! And I'm starting to get a kick out of people looking at me weird when I whip out alcohol pads in public to scrub down my fingers because I had to touch a door knob or something. I used to be embarrassed.
Since my daughter and son in law moved to Boston, and all the family is in Kansas City, they're having the baby shower in K.C. So I'm flying out tomorrow ( lol, main reason for my Xanax question-post )and I'll see her then. I really don't want to bring it up, but if she wants to talk about it we will. If we don't, I'm going to wait until we're all back to our respective homes to drop the booster news.
Thanks again
Kathy

Ahhh yes Sandi - you and I agree, put that darn wooden spoon [plastic, rubber, concrete, tile, stainless, silver, whatever a spoon can be made of] in the dishwasher if it has touched raw chicken!! But then I am very paraniod about salmonella, and for good reason!

Anyway I am sorry flippy that this on your shoulders - our grandbaby is a couple days overdue and thank heaven this hasn't been put on my shoulders because there is no way I would get that shot, I had bad luck [a big crash] with a tetanus booster. Our daughter in law is a nurse and she has never asked me what "childhood" diseases or shots I have had - I don't know what I would do if she did. I think I would have to ask her & my son if they intended to lock the baby in the house to keep it away from people and germs.

Bless you!

Yeah, it's a fine line to walk between being careful and being paranoid. I try to err on the side of caution without looking like a nut. If it's just between me and my husband though, I'll fight to the finish!

Good luck, Flippy!

Sandi wrote: I thought I was overly cautious the other day when I argued with my husband over a wooden spoon. He'd used it to make chicken and was hand washing it. I asked him to please put it in the dishwasher where the water and steam are much hotter and would kill bacteria. I am on Prednisone and Methotrexate and didn't want to risk it. He argued that it was clean. We went back and forth until I finally said "What will it hurt to just stick it in the dishwasher"? I was ready to stick it someplace else, but he complied.

Oh dear, I don't have a dishwasher and I *do* have a wooden spoon. What to do? :laugh:

Replace it with plastic or only use it for non-germy things. :sick:

I don't eat germy things!

LOL - that's not what I meant!

If you stick a wooden spoon on a raw egg or raw chicken, it's contaminated. If you use it to stir Chex Mix, it's okay.

According to these researchers, she'd be safer staying with the wooden spoon over plastic:
faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/docliver/Research/cuttingboard.htm

That's an interesting study April so thanks for that. Good to see that wood wins out over plastic so I shall continue using my wooden spoon.

I don't eat chicken, Sandi, and I'll have to look up Chex Mix. I think I'm fairly safe when stirring my baked beans.

I use both wood and plastic.

Yes, I'd say your beans are fine.

Hello . I didn't know how to pick up this thread again, but anyway here's a little update. I went to my G.P. today and talked to him about the booster. He said I should get it whether there was a new baby to protect or not, because of the compromised immune system. So I went ahead and got it. There IS a test I can take in about a month to see if it has worked on me ( it may not be effective on immunocompromised people). So I threw the dice as far as screwing up my platelets. So we'll see.

Duh - don't know why I didn't think of that. They can run a titer to see if you have antibodies. Yup - you are right!

Are you on immunosuppressants?

:S ...probably not, lol, I don't even know what they are!

And yeah the test is called an "IGG". Jeez it's gonna be a long month. Watching for crash signs, will the booster work, yadda yadda.

Immunosuppressants - Prednisone, Rituxan, CellCept....meds that affect the immune system. If you're not on them, you are probably not immunosuppressed. That's good news because the vaccine would most likely be effective!

My daughter has an autoimmune disorder and works at a hospital. She is required to have regular vaccines, but instead, she has her titers done to make sure she really needs them.

Ooooo.k., no I was on Prednisone when I was first diagnosed but nothing since. I've been so lucky for 8 years and now having to research all over again and worry if this was a good decision. Now I'm trying to find out if this booster was a "live" vaccine, I forgot to ask the G.P. today. It was Tdap. Arrrrghhhh I KNEW better and I forgot.
Found this...done freaking out:

www.vaccineinformation.org/pertuss/qandavax.asp
How are vaccines made that prevent diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis?
These vaccines are made by chemically treating the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis toxins to render them nontoxic yet still capable of eliciting an immune response in the vaccinated person. They are known as “inactivated” vaccines because they do not contain live bacteria and cannot replicate themselves, which is why multiple doses are needed to produce immunity.

I can't see that it makes any difference whether it's a live vaccine or not. It still stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies and it's then that the body can get overhyped and attack the platelets.

I think the problem comes with live vaccines if you are immunosuppressed as it could trigger you actually getting the disease that it is trying to prevent. If you are not immunosuppressed then that doesn't apply.