Los Angeles Unified School District students entering, advancing or transferring into seventh-grade during the 2012-2013 school year will need proof of a whooping cough (also known as pertussis) booster immunization, known as Tdap, beginning Aug. 14, the first day of school.
Students who have not received the shot will not be able to attend classes.
Officials have alerted families throughout the summer via school communication, phone calls, letters and social media. District Health Clinics are open to give district students the booster shots free of charge.
Pertussis is a very contagious respiratory disease that can be severe and last for months. The immunity received from either early childhood immunization or pertussis disease wears off over time, leaving older students and adults susceptible again to pertussis. Immunization with Tdap can protect students, schools and communities against pertussis.
The Tdap booster shot, which is a state mandate for public and private schools, is recommended for children over the age of 10 to protect them, and those around them, from whooping cough.
For more information regarding pertussis and the Tdap shot, go to: http://shotsforschool.org/
Free shots are still being administered at these area clinics:
Today, Aug. 9
Bret Harte Prep Middle School
9301 S. Hoover St.., Los Angeles, CA 90044
Fri., Aug. 10
Edison Middle School
6500 Hooper St., Los Angeles, CA 90001
