Whooping cough circulating

NHS SHETLAND are reminding parents to make sure their children have received the ‘5 in 1’ vaccine booster following an increase of whooping cough cases in the isles.

The health board revealed that the uptake of the pre-school booster has dropped from between 95 to 100 per cent to just 84 per cent.

“This means that there are young children, and children going to school, in Shetland who are not fully protected against whooping cough,” public health consultant Dr Susan Laidlaw said.

“We know that whooping cough is circulating in Shetland and so they are at risk of catching the illness themselves, and also of passing it on to other children, especially babies who have not yet completed all their immunisations.”

The “5 in 1” vaccine also protects against diphtheria, polio, haemophilus influenzae type b and tetanus and is offered to babies as part of the routine childhood vaccination programme.

A booster dose is being given to children at the age of about three years and four months.

Whooping cough is very infectious and can cause severe illness in babies and young children.

It can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to prevent spread of the disease.