From 2013 all pregnant woman are being offered free whooping cough vaccine to protect their new-born babies during the current outbreak.
Several district health boards had already begun offering the free immunisation but the Minister of Health Tony Ryall has announced that from January 1 2013 all pregnant women between 28 and 38 weeks of pregnancy can get a free Boostrix vaccine from their general practice.
“This is part of an effort to reduce the impact of the outbreak on those most vulnerable to the disease,” said Ryall. Canterbury District Health board recently confirmed the death of a six-week-old baby through whooping cough. Research indicates that 70 per cent of babies who contract the disease in the first few weeks of life, catch it from their parents or other close family members.
There have been 6,700 notified cases of whooping cough since August last year – of which over 200 were babies under one year of age who required hospital treatment. Babies are most vulnerable to whooping cough, the severe coughing can cause babies to stop breathing and can lead to serious consequences like blindness and brain damage. Canterbury District Health board recently confirmed the death in November of a six-week-old baby, which had been born prematurely, through whooping cough.
