Schools Face Whooping Cough Vaccination Deadline

Thousands of Bay Area parents of middle school and high school students are facing deadlines this week to prove that their students have received a state-mandated whooping cough vaccine in order to continue attending school.

While that deadline has already passed for many Bay Area school districts, including the Jefferson Union High School District, which includes Pacifica's two high schools-- and --and , schools across San Mateo County, Contra Costa County and Oakland and other areas are scrambling to ensure their students get the boosters.

Last fall, school districts began notifying parents of the new law, which requires seventh through 12th graders to receive the Tdap booster shot and submit proof of vaccination before attending classes.

The Tdap shot protects against whooping cough, a highly contagious respiratory illness that can be fatal for infants.

A dramatic increase in whooping cough cases throughout California prompted the new legislations.

In July, the state granted school districts an extension on the deadline, allowing parents to sign off on vaccination documents within 30 days after school starts.

In school districts where that extension is set to expire in the coming days, officials say they are providing as many resources possible to make sure students get vaccinated.

Of West Contra Costa Unified School District's roughly 9,000 middle and high school students, most have already complied with the new
requirement, district spokesman Marin Trujillo said today.

For the hundreds who haven't given proof of vaccination, Trujillo said the district is busing students district-wide to two on-campus clinics this week.

Students who show up to school on Monday without signed vaccination documents will not be allowed to attend class, he said.

"Our intent is to do everything we can to ensure our kids have received this vaccination," Trujillo said.

That includes contacting the parents of those who haven't submitted the necessary paperwork with daily notices and phone calls.

In Oakland, school district staff are using the same methods to notify parents about the upcoming vaccination deadline, district spokesman
Troy Flint said today.

Although he said the latest figures weren't available, as of Sept. 16, about 86 percent of the district's students had submitted proof of vaccination.

Parents have received letters with consent forms allowing their children to receive the vaccination at a district-run clinic, plus lists of free or low-cost clinics in the community offering the shot, Flint said.

For San Francisco Unified School District, where 24,000 students had to submit booster shot documentation by Sept. 15, that type of outreach has largely worked, district spokeswoman Heidi Anderson said.

Still, she said the district is working to get about 900 of its seventh to 12th graders vaccinated and back to class.

--Bay City News