Anchorage School District to host whooping cough vaccine clinic

In response to a growing number of confirmed cases of whooping cough within the Anchorage School District this month, the district next week will host two vaccination clinics to better protect staff, students and their families against the disease.

Since Sept. 7, the Anchorage School District has confirmed 29 cases of whooping cough, also called pertussis, according to district spokesperson Corey Allen Young. Those cases cropped up in six local schools, including Goldenview Middle School, Muldoon Elementary, Rabbit Creek Elementary School, Service High School, South High School and Tudor Elementary School, the district confirmed.

Whooping cough is a vaccine-preventable, highly contagious respiratory disease. It’s a bacterial infection that can cause violent, uncontrollable coughing that can make it difficult to breathe — sometimes for as long as three months — and can be fatal for infants.

Although Alaska law requires that families vaccinate their children in order to enroll them at local schools, including with the pertussis vaccine, a substantial number of Anchorage families this year chose to opt out for a medical or religious exemption. In Anchorage, only 62% of kindergarten-age kids are up to date on their whooping cough shots, compared to roughly 80% nationwide.

The upcoming clinics will be free and open to all Anchorage School District staff, students and family members aged 2 months or older, according to the district.

The clinics will be held on Monday, Sept. 23 and Wednesday, Sept. 25, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Anchorage School District Education Center on Northern Lights Boulevard.

Those who don’t qualify for a vaccine with the school district can seek preventive treatment at the Fairweather clinic at Tikahtnu Commons on Muldoon Road.

There, vaccines are free and available by appointment or walk-in from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.