ACSH trustee Dr. Paul Offit, chief of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Division of Infectious Diseases, shares in this Medscape video a sad story of what happened in his hospital when a new mother declined the Tdap (tetanus-diptheria-pertussis) vaccine, and a nurse didn’t try to change her mind. The mother caught whooping cough (pertussis) a few weeks later and her two-month-old died, despite heroic measures to save the baby's life. Dr. Offit calls on health care workers to be more passionate in explaining the potential consequences of refusing the Tdap shot and other vaccines.
ACSH also congratulates Dr. Offit: The rotavirus vaccine Rotateq he co-developed received the 2010 Prix Galien USA Award for best biotechnology product this week. Rotavirus causes severe gastroenteritis that can be life-threatening in infants and young children in areas where clean water and emergency re-hydration do not exist. A Lancet study published in August 2010 showed that Rotateq substantially reduced rotatvirus death rates in Asia and Africa.
For more information on adult vaccinations and the efficacy of childhood vaccinations be sure to read ACSH’s reports.