Safeway pharmacies offering pertussis booster vaccine

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway pharmacies in California are responding to the state's whooping cough (pertussis) emergency and now are offering Adacel, a booster vaccine for people ages 11 through 64 years, the grocer announced Wednesday.

The Adacel vaccine is available at all Safeway, Vons and Pavilions pharmacies on a walk-in basis, the company stated.

California's incidences of whooping cough have reached a 60-year high, with more than 5,200 confirmed, suspected and possible cases this year, according to the California Department of Public Health. Because of the sudden increase, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed a bill requiring 7th-grade through 12th-grade students to get a whooping cough booster shot before the start of the next school year.

Agrowing number of insurance plans cover the whooping cough booster vaccine, decreasing or eliminating out-of-pocket costs, as well as eliminating the cost of a doctor's office visit.