Recommendation for the use of Tdap in HCW

In India when we talk about vaccination, more often it is meant for children only, but we forget about the adolescent, Adults, Sick adults Geriatric and above all the respected health care workers who expose their lives to micro-organism and help the community.

We forget about these Health Care Workers (HCW) and have no time to think about them and talk on this issue, not even the Gov’t of India bothers.

·         The ACIP recommends that all healthcare personnel (HCP), regardless of age, should receive a single dose of Tdap as soon as feasible if they have not previously received Tdap and regardless of the time since last Td dose.

·         Hospitals and ambulatory-care facilities should provide Tdap for HCP and use approaches that maximize vaccination rates (e.g., education about the benefits of vaccination, convenient access, and the provision of Tdap at no charge).

·         Healthcare facilities should maximize efforts to prevent transmission of Bordetella pertussis. Respiratory precautions should be taken to prevent unprotected exposure to pertussis.

·         Post exposure antimicrobial prophylaxis is recommend for all HCP who have unprotected exposure to pertussis and are likely to expose a patient at risk for severe pertussis (e.g., hospitalized neonates and pregnant women). Other HCP should either receive post exposure antimicrobial prophylaxis or be monitored daily for 21 days after pertussis exposure and treated at the onset of signs and symptoms of pertussis.

The American Public Health Association (APHA) and American Medical Directors Association (AMDA) recently released position statements supporting mandatory annual influenza vaccination of healthcare personnel. APHA and AMDA join the following seven professional associations included on IAC's Honor Roll for Patient Safety for developing position statements that endorse influenza vaccination mandates for healthcare workers:

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP); American College of Physicians (ACP); Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC); Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA); National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID); National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF); and Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).

We should altogether work out on this issue.

Dr. Akhilesh Singh