Does pertussis vax really prevent transmission?

[harli]

This morning on Good Morning America there was a couple on who lost their baby to Pertussis. They were talking about how adults and older kids need to be continually vaccinated against pertussis to protect the young kids in the population.

I was just re-reading "The Vaccine Book" because DD's 1 year shots are coming up soon. I ended up reading about the DTaP shot. The book talked about how giving the shot to older kids protects young infants from pertussis.

Then I was watching the vaccine story on PBS that also talked about vaccinating everyone against pertussis that way the young kids in the population are protected.

Now I'm just scratching my head here. Because I just read a quote from the CDC (that was cited and linked too) not too long ago that talked about how the pertussis vax does not protect against the disease or prevent transmission. That all it really does is lessen the symptoms of pertussis. I have no doubt that GMA has no idea what they are talking about but why all this talk about vaccinating against pertussis to prevent transmission if it really doesn't prevent transmission? What got me was all those doc's on the PBS story talking about the same thing. Do they really not realize that the vax doesn't prevent the illness or transmission? If so isn't that bad? That would mean that they could be seeing pertussis in their practice and they don't even know it.

Or am I being completely wrong here about the vax not preventing transmission? Maybe I just got some bad info some place? If I'm not wrong why is all this incorrect info being blatantly thrown about?

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by harli

This morning on Good Morning America there was a couple on who lost their baby to Pertussis. They were talking about how adults and older kids need to be continually vaccinated against pertussis to protect the young kids in the population.

I was just re-reading "The Vaccine Book" because DD's 1 year shots are coming up soon. I ended up reading about the DTaP shot. The book talked about how giving the shot to older kids protects young infants from pertussis.

Then I was watching the vaccine story on PBS that also talked about vaccinating everyone against pertussis that way the young kids in the population are protected.

Now I'm just scratching my head here. Because I just read a quote from the CDC (that was cited and linked too) not too long ago that talked about how the pertussis vax does not protect against the disease or prevent transmission. That all it really does is lessen the symptoms of pertussis. I have no doubt that GMA has no idea what they are talking about but why all this talk about vaccinating against pertussis to prevent transmission if it really doesn't prevent transmission? What got me was all those doc's on the PBS story talking about the same thing. Do they really not realize that the vax doesn't prevent the illness or transmission? If so isn't that bad? That would mean that they could be seeing pertussis in their practice and they don't even know it.
Or am I being completely wrong here about the vax not preventing transmission? Maybe I just got some bad info some place? If I'm not wrong why is all this incorrect info being blatantly thrown about?

The answer to the first bolded question is $$$$$

To the second.....no many do not actually realize this and yes, pertussis cases are frequently diagnosed as something else if the child has been vaccinated.

[Tracy]

When my son was a baby I went to a lecture on vaccines by a local doctor.
When I asked her how many cases of pertussis she had seen in her baby patients she said something like 30. I then said how many of them had been vaxed. She said, "all."

We skipped it.

[blumooned]

One of the replies in this thread links to Inside Vaccines, which links to the CDC. It says that the whole-cell pertussis shot does not prevent transmission. No info there on aP, but it is supposed to be less effective than P.

[harli]

Thanks Mama's I did read that article on Inside Vaccines. But with all the talk of vaccinating to prevent transmission I thought that I had read it wrong or that there was more recent research or something like that.

Thanks again.

[mamadelbosque]

Nope, doesn't prevent transmission. I read a ton on pertussis & the vax a couple years ago before ds1 was born and came to the conclusion that we all get it every few years, and its just almost never diagnosed. In adults/older chidlren its usulaly very mild - a cold that just. won't. go. away. I'm sure you've had one of those - a cough that just lasts and lasts and lasts?? Probably pertussis. But you didn't goto the doc for it, and even if you had almost certainly wouldn't have been diagnosed.

[thtr4me]

I actually have one of those coughs right now. Doc said it is totally normal following a "flu-like" illness, and that eventually it will go away. the only thing he did was check my lungs to make sure they were clear.

And I was really saddened by the GMA story. It was just a big push to promote the vaccine and scare people, without giving the whole picture. When I told DH what they left out of the story, that the vaccine does not prevent transmission, he was really surprised.

[13Sandals]

the diagnosis had 'pneumonia' in it. a baby vaccinated for pertussis would never be diagnosed with 'pertussis pneumonia'...it would just be pneumonia - or depending on the season, 'flu complication'.

I hate that we can never truly evaluate risk/benefits because of things like shifting diagnosis.