Cocooning to protect the herd of newborns

Babies have to wait until they re at least six weeks old to get the DTaP vaccine, which protects them from tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (whooping cough). Thus, during these early weeks of life, their undeveloped immune systems make them especially vulnerable to these illnesses. However, the family members who surround these infants can effectively shield them from these diseases by making sure that they themselves have been inoculated. The strategy is called cocooning, and a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics, published in the journal Pediatrics, has OK d pediatrician vaccination of a newborn s close family members.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which also supports the practice of cocooning, more than half of babies under one year old who get whooping cough require hospitalization. However, a Canadian study just published in the journal Clinical Diseases used mathematical modeling to calculate cost-benefit ratios, prompting the authors to question the cost-effectiveness of vaccinating 10,000 to 20,000 people in order to prevent a single baby from being hospitalized. Yet other experts point out that considering the high overall cost of having a baby a $30 vaccination for each parent is a small price to pay.

ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross agrees that cocooning is a smart and simple strategy. What we really need is to raise awareness of the need for these vaccinations, he says, noting that it is already recommended that older teens and young adults get boosters.

And speaking of the virtues of vaccination, an op-ed in today s New York Times underscores the importance of herd immunity the concept that over 75 percent of a community must be immunized against a disease in order to protect the vulnerable members of the herd.

As Dr. Steven L. Weinreb points out in his op-ed, it s not just newborns who constitute this vulnerable contingent: The immunocompromised and those undergoing chemotherapy are just as much at risk from these diseases. This portion of the population must rely on the rest of the herd s vaccinations to protect them from the serious consequences of illnesses like whooping cough and measles. As Dr. Weinreb puts it, The truth is, we should not get vaccinated for ourselves alone; we should do it for one another ¦ After all, we re in the same herd.