Whooping cough is a highly infectious illness which can be very dangerous for babies. With whooping cough spreading in New Zealand, and three pēpē tragically dying from the illness recently, it’s important we all take steps to help protect our tamariki.
1. Make sure your child receives their free immunisations.
Vaccination is the best protection we have from whooping cough.
Babies and young children should get their free routine vaccine doses on-time at six weeks, three months and five months. Booster doses are then available at four and 11 years old. However, if pēpē and tamariki have fallen behind in their childhood vaccination schedule, you can still catch them up.
It’s also recommended other people in your whānau get vaccinated too if there is a baby in your whare, although this may not be free for everyone.
Learn more about immunisation >
Create a personalised routine immunisation calendar for your child >
2. If you’re pregnant you can get immunised against whooping cough for free too.
It is critical for pregnant people to be immunised from 16 weeks pregnant – every time they are pregnant. This helps pass on some immunity to babies before they are old enough to be vaccinated themselves and is the best way a parent can protect their newborn baby against the illness.
3. Got symptoms? Seek advice and stay away from babies.
Whooping cough starts like a cold with a runny nose, cough and fever, so it can be hard to recognise as a serious illness at first. After seven to ten days the cough becomes more severe and causes coughing fits that may end with a ‘whoop’, dry retching or vomiting.
• Anyone with a cough for two weeks or more, or a cough that ends with a ‘whoop’ sound orvomiting should seek medical advice. Contact your doctor or call Healthline for free on 0800611 116.
• If you have symptoms you should also avoid seeing babies, so you don’t risk passing on theillness.
• If your child has symptoms monitor them closely, and keep them home until they get betteror you have had advice from a healthcare professional.
4. In an emergency, call 111
If anyone has difficulty breathing, call 111 and get help immediately.
Whooping cough in young babies is unpredictable and can get worse very quickly. Seek urgent medical advice if a baby:
• Stops breathing
• Goes blue with coughing
• Appears to have a cold, then cough and have difficulty breathing
• Gets exhausted from coughing
• Is not able to feed properly because of coughing and difficulty breathing
• Loses weight because of difficulty feeding and because the cough causes them to vomit (besick).
If we all follow these actions we can help keep our little ones safe. Thanks for your support.