Deadline For Whooping Cough Vaccine Extended

Parents of middle and high school students are getting a grace period to have their children vaccinated for whooping cough.

The first day of school had been the original deadline for students to get their shots.

Now students have 30 days after school starts to be immunized for the highly contagious bacterial disease or face not being allowed to stay in school.

Governor Brown signed a bill earlier this week extending the deadline since more than a million California students are still not on track be to be vaccinated.

Sandra Box of Indio has taken care of her kids whooping cough shots, but she understands why some parents are putting it off until school starts. “A lot of medical insurances not covering it so they have to pay out of cash and lot of times the parents don’t have the funds to pay for the whooping cough,” said Box.

If cost is an issue with your health care provider, county health clinics can be an alternative. All they require is a $10.00 administrative fee to get your child immunized.

For a list of clinics offering the whooping cough vaccine, just click on “Seen on 3” here at KESQ.Com.