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July 23, 2003
U.S. IMMUNIZATION
NEWS
Whooping Cough
Rates Soar in Three Oregon Counties
Oregon Health
Services Immunization Program nurse Hilary Gillette reports that whooping cough
rates in Oregons Lane, Jackson, and Klamath counties are roughly 11 times
higher than the state and national average, with 66 confirmed cases in Jackson
County so far this year, 16 in Klamath County, and 102 in Lane County. The
statewide average is about 70 cases of whooping cough a year. Lane County has
begun a program to immunize children as young as six weeks, and the other two
counties are considering the same. The plan would be to vaccinate babies
against whooping cough at six weeks, 10 weeks, and 14 weeks, and give them
booster shots at 12 months and four years; currently, children are vaccinated at
two months, four months, and six months, with boosters at 15 months and prior to
school.
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construed or intended as providing medical or legal advice. The decision
whether or not to vaccinate is an important and complex issue and should
be made by you, and you alone, in consultation with your health care
provider.
"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"