considering giving previously un-vaxxed 3 year old DTaP due to epidemic in state and new baby coming

[nukuspot]

X-posted:

I have never given my DD a single vaccine.  She is 3 years old.  She will be starting preschool on my due date for LO #2 in early September.  It is a Waldorf school where I am sure there will be many other un-vaxxed kids.  Also many of her toddler pals are also un-vaxxed, and she goes to many public places with tons of other kids like parks, children's museum, and gymnastics.

I would never be thinking about giving her a vaccine at this point except our state (WA) is going through a record pertussis outbreak.  I have two adult friends who currently have it, as well as other friends who have older children with it.  Supposedly it's a 7 fold increase of normal pertussis cases.  It was even on national news this week.

I want to say I am not very worried about my DD getting it, as she is a toddler, and even if she gets it, I know it will most likely be just a nuisance for many months and she should get over it well.  It is just the new baby coming in 4-5 months I am worried about, as I know that most serious adverse reactions and deaths come from newborns and young infants who contract pertussis.  Since there is 1.)  A current outbreak and 2.)  She is starting preschool I am considering getting her vaxxed to protect the little one.  I am NOT considering getting the newborn vaxxed, as I am very concerned about adverse reactions in infants.  I think at 3 DD is not likely to have severe side effects from the vaccine, but if I am wrong, please tell me.

DH is also getting an adult booster.

I am not getting a booster because I am pregnant currently and I don't feel it is safe to get any vaccine while pregnant.

Anyway, my question is:  Do you think it makes sense to get my toddler vaccinated to protect the baby?  And, since she has never gotten any vaccines, what might a schedule of DTaP look like for a not previously vaxxed 3 year old?  I don't want to ask the ped about this because I don't want to get into another vaccine talk with a doctor, and I am not totally sure I want to do this anyway.  I am just researching now about my options.

[emmy526]

An InsideVaccines blog entry about pertussis

Click here to read all about what the pertussis vaccine does (or doesn’t, as the case may be) do in terms of herd immunity.

What does pertussis “look like” in unvaccinated infants and children?

Manufacturer’s Inserts and efficacy statements:

Daptacel- Efficacy of the DTap ranged from 59-89%.

The Tetanus portion of the vaccine has never been tested for efficacy.

Interestingly, the CDC’s Reported Cases and Deaths from Vaccine Preventable Diseases,United States, 1950-2005 shows Pertussis cases at the highest reported rates since 1959. (Vaccine became available in the 1940s).

In the Journal of Theoretical Biology they discuss the failure rate of the pertussis vaccine in New Zealand.