TDAP Vaccines

TDAP Vaccines

Donlon Pharmacy is pleased to offer the Tdap Booster vaccine. Boostrix (Tetanus, Diphtheria & acellular Pertussis vaccine) is approved for use in all patients above age 10. It is partly covered by your Medicare D pharmacy benefit.

This vaccine is recommended by the CDC for anyone who has or expects to come in contact with pertussis infected individuals and/or children vulnerable to such infection. A single booster like this is recommended for all adults, including those over age 65.

Remember that an adult may have whooping cough without having the classic “whooping” symptom which is most pronounced in babies. Adults may also be carrying the infection without even realizing they have anything at all. Vaccines are the safest and most effective way to prevent this illness and prevent its spread. Contact Matthew at the pharmacy if you have questions about it. Or stop by any day to get the vaccine: just ask your doctor to send us a prescription first!

Visit the CDC’s recommendations site for more information on this vaccine.

After the Pertussis (Whooping Cough) outbreaks this year and in previous years, we decided to start offering the Tdap vaccine and we give a few each week, often in conjunction with the Shingles vaccine. Tdap protects against Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis (whooping cough). Here are some details:

  • Pertussis/ Whooping Cough is extremely contagious. With prevalence increasing in the community, that means that the advent of school brings an enormous opportunity for infections to spread from one to many households in no time. Flu is the same deal: school provides a great way to spread either disease to hundreds of families, even to those who have no school-age kids.
  • Babies/ children who have not completed their 3-dose series are not protected from pertussis and so are very vulnerable to infection from contact with those carrying it.
  • Kids get a booster around 10 – 12. They can be vulnerable in the few years before that. And vulnerable again lifelong after that booster wears off, which happens in 5 – 7 years.
  • Meaning that most adults really have no protection from the pertussis infection. Symptoms in children are fairly clear but adolescents and adults can have atypical symptoms or, amazingly, may have no symptoms at all. Thus uncle Bob or Grandpa Joe might carry the infection without knowing it, and pass it on to baby Zenobia. Not good.
  • Adults may receive the Shingles vaccine (Zostavax) & the Pertussis/ Tdap at the same time: one in each arm. This is an efficient & preferred method.
  • Prevention is safer than treatment. (That’s true for most diseases.) Vaccines use the body’s own mechanism to build a defense against the disease, so this approach is probably closer to “Natural” (whatever that means) than using chemistry or plants to cure/fight off an infection.
  • It takes 1 – 2 weeks after the shot to achieve good immunity.
  • CDC & the state of Iowa recommend Tdap for all adolescents & adults of any age. The vaccine we carry is approved up to and also beyond age 65, so it’s a good choice. Current recommendations (due to pertussis prevalence) are to get the Tdap without regard to how recently a person had their last tetanus shot.
  • Pregnancy: The Tdap vaccine is usually given either in the 2nd or 3rd trimester or immediately postpartum.