Monmouth Assemblywoman Sponsors Adult Vaccination Bill for Whooping Cough

State Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande released the following statement on legislation she sponsored in hopes of protecting infants from Whooping Cough:

Bipartisan legislation sponsored by Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande that will help protect infants from contracting pertussis (whooping cough) from adults was released Monday by the Assembly Women and Children Committee.

“While anyone can contract pertussis at any age, in infants this highly contagious disease can be life-threatening,” said Casagrande, R-Monmouth. “Despite a high vaccination rate for infants and children, the incidence rate of pertussis has gradually increased since the 1980s. The largest increase has been among adolescents and adults. That’s why it is imperative that we educate new mothers and fathers about the importance of adult vaccination.”

Pertussis, an infectious disease of the upper respiratory tract, is often transmitted to infants by infected parents, siblings or other caregivers who may not even know they have the illness. More than half of infants less than 1 year of age who get pertussis are hospitalized. About 1 in 4 develop pneumonia while nearly two thirds will have slowed or stopped breathing.

Casagrande’s bill, A-3978, will require hospitals and birthing facilities to provide new mothers, both birth and adoptive mothers, with information about the pertussis vaccines for adults. Since 2005, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended the tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap) booster vaccine to an unvaccinated mother of a newborn infant and other adult family members before the infant's birth or mother's discharge from the hospital.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reports of pertussis began to gradually increase during the 1980s. In 2012, outbreaks were reported in a majority of states. Earlier this year, 49 states and Washington D.C. reported significant increases in 2012 (estimated 41,000) compared to 2011 (18,719 cases).

Noting that adult inoculation can prevent the transmission of the disease to infants and reduce pertussis cases in infants less than three months old by 70 percent, Casagrande said, “We have the weapon to battle this potentially deadly illness. However, as we are seeing, its effect is diminished if it is underutilized.

“‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ is certainly true in this case. Requiring healthcare facilities to get the word out about adult inoculations is crucial. If it helps prevent one death, we will have been successful.”

Under the measure, the state Department of Health (DOH) would require staff at each hospital and birthing facility in the State to provide new mothers, both birth and adoptive mothers, and any other family member present at the infant's birth, with informational literature prior to the mother's discharge.