A single-dose booster vaccine was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for use by adults 65 and older. The vaccine will help seniors prevent tetanus, diphtheria (dif-THEER-ee-uh), and pertussis (per-TUHS-sis). Sonya Test, a nurse at Marion County Public Health, says that the ability to prevent pertussis, which causes uncontrollable, violent coughing, is especially important. She says that it is a highly contagious disease that has occurred in nursing homes and hospitals, and that the vaccine should help prevent it.