There were more than nine thousand cases of suspected whooping cough or pertussis in California last year.
A new state law requires all children entering grades seven through twelve to get what is called a T-DAP booster shot this year. Sacramento County Health Officer Glennah Trochet says any child entering those grades who had a booster shot before the age of seven will have to get another.
GLENNA TROCHET: "Last year, ten babies under the age of six months died of whooping cough. All of those babies got the disease from a family member."
Two schools in the county have already scheduled
clinics.
The California Department of Public Health says Hispanics and
whites made up about half of all cases, but that three-quarters of
the infants under the age of six months who were hospitalized were
Hispanic.
