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Pertussis levels rocketing as vaccination rates drop :(

  • 23-07-2009 6:05am
    #1
    tallaght01
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,778 ✭✭✭


    Was just wondering what the situation in other parts of the planet are!

    Here in Oz, our whooping cough levels are really worrying. In some areas, the levels of vaccination are as low as 62%, although these are exceptions. Mostly we're at 92%. But the pockets of low vaccination is affecting herd immunity now.

    The government here is starting to give free boosters to parents of new babies soon (albeit only for the next 6 months in the first instance), which will be very welcome.

    Our mean cases have increased 6 fold this years on previous years. Particularly worrying is that we're seeing a spike in cases in the very young. This is very sad as pertussis is a well documented killer of infants.

    Anyone else seeing this in their regions? I'm now advising a lot more swabs for pertussis in kids with prolonged cough.

    I just wish the anti-vaccine lobby could see some kids with whopping cough, especially the very little ones.


Comments

  • #2
    IvyTheTerrible
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,949 ✭✭✭✭IvyTheTerrible


    Back in the early eighties, my mum got freaked out by some horror story about the whooping cough vaccine causing brain damage or something. So me and my sister didn't get the vaccine. And of course we both got the whooping cough. I was only 3 and I STILL remember coughing so much in bed that I threw up and was too weak to get out of the bed. (I still have chest problems, don't know if it's related).

    Once I found out she didn't give us the vaccine, and the memories came back I decided that if I have kids they are getting ALL their vaccines. It's not right to put kids through that when you can avoid it.


  • #3
    PhysiologyRocks
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,813 ✭✭✭PhysiologyRocks


    That's frightening. Do you know why the vaccination rates are dropping so low? Why are there areas with very low rates? Is anyone refusing the free booster?

    (These may be very, very stupid questions, but better I ask now than later when I really should know.)


  • #4
    tallaght01
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,778 ✭✭✭tallaght01


    PhysiologyRocks wrote: »
    That's frightening. Do you know why the vaccination rates are dropping so low? Why are there areas with very low rates? Is anyone refusing the free booster?

    (These may be very, very stupid questions, but better I ask now than later when I really should know.)

    Media scare stories, and quacktitioners exploiting parental concerns have resulted in rates dropping, as well as the medics' lacklustre effort at engaging with the public on any kind of large scale about the issue.

    The free booster is only being rolled out on some parts of oz. Grandparents and childcare workers have to pay for it, though. As these are often people on a lower income, they don't get it. That needs to be sorted. Better paid hospital workers in oz get it for free.

    Dunno the situation in Ireland. Do you have to pay the GP for the visit to get the free booster?


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