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New analysis has found hospitals are sleeping on an opportunity to vaccinate more Australians against whooping cough, a disease that’s infecting the population at record rates.
A probe from the Immunisation Foundation of Australia finds few hospitals are stocking a whooping cough-containing booster to jab patients with tetanus-prone wounds.
Despite health guidelines advising emergency departments to incorporate the combined vaccine into routine wound care to enhance protection against whooping cough, vaccination rates remain alarmingly low. Studies indicate that the level of immunization is a serious concern.
Australia is in the grips of an unprecedented outbreak of whooping cough, an infection that can be life-threatening for babies and young children.
Authorities have been notified of 80,000 cases in the past two years, an all-time high.
Known colloquially as the ‘100-day cough,’ this bacterial infection targets the respiratory system, leading to relentless coughing fits and difficulty in breathing.
It is more contagious than the flu or COVID-19.
Immunisation Foundation founder Catherine Hughes said an opportunity to boost immunisation rates against the dangerous disease was being missed.
“It’s unacceptable that so many vaccines used for tetanus in Australian hospitals do not include added protection against whooping cough, despite established national recommendations,” she said.
A decade ago, Hughes tragically lost her 32-day-old son, Riley, to this disease.
The probe by the vaccination advocacy group found 401 of 469 hospitals were stocking the older diphtheria and tetanus vaccine, not the one that also provides protection against whooping cough and costs a few dollars extra per dose.
Earlier research has found one million adults older than 50 had been given the older vaccine rather than the recommended whooping cough combined jab when seeking tetanus protection.
Raina MacIntyre, who leads global biosecurity efforts at the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales, emphasized that vaccinating adults is crucial for controlling the spread of the outbreak.
“Adults are a large component of the massive pertussis epidemic we’ve seen unfold in Australia, so vaccination of adults is part of the solution,” MacIntyre said.
“Whooping cough is deadly for infants but has also caused serious complications in adults.”
