Whooping Cough

Whooping cough is on the rise in England and sadly 5 very young babies have died of it in the first 3 months of this year. All these babies were under 3 months old, so too young to have had their childhood immunisations.

Whooping cough cases are more common now as immunisation rate for all childhood diseases has fallen in young children, with parents choosing not to let their babies have the jabs. To help protect young babies from whooping cough, immunisation has been offered to women in pregnancy between 20 and 32 weeks as this offers protection to the babies when they are born, and before they can be immunised and protected themselves.

In the last year only 42% of pregnant women registered at Dovercourt and Manor Top have taken up the immunisation. This means that more than half the babies born have had no protection at all until they had their own jabs. We also have a number of young children who have not had the recommended immunisations, and unfortunately other diseases such as measles are also coming back.

We urge pregnant Mums and parents in general to consider the offered immunisations. These illnesses can be extremely unpleasant and can have long term consequences. Immunisation offers protection for young children from potentially very serious illness.

If you have any questions about this, please speak to the Midwife or any Doctor or Nurse.

 

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Published on 18 June 2024