Australian Medical Association President says whooping cough outbreak must be addressed quickly

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Medical professionals say free whooping cough vaccines are available to all pregnant women and parents and carers should ensure children receive their vaccinations on time. AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen says that this outbreak is serious, and while it is not a seasonal illness, it must be addressed quickly.

Transcript

00:00Unlike flu, whooping cough isn't as much of a seasonal illness, we do tend to see outbreaks

00:09every four or five years. So that part was expected, but this one, as you said, has been

00:15longer lasting and much bigger than we've seen since the early 90s. And so we really

00:20do need to try and get on top of this whooping cough or pertussis outbreak and vaccination

00:24remains our best way to do so. Okay, who's most vulnerable? So whooping cough can affect anyone

00:31and it gives you a long lasting and irritating cough, but it's most risky for the youngest in

00:37our community, for little babies where it really can be a life threatening illness. Our best

00:43protection against that is vaccinating pregnant women, because actually by doing that, we give

00:47them give the unborn baby some antibodies that protect them until they can get their own vaccines.

00:52So pregnant women, but also grandparents, parents, carers who are wrapping around that baby and

00:59seeing them early in their life should be up to date with their vaccines, which means a

01:03booster sometime in the past 10 years. As you say, it is highly infectious, but some of the

01:08symptoms people might mistake for a cold or flu. So what's the particular symptoms that

01:13we should look out for? Really, it often presents as what we call it the 90 day cough. It's a cough

01:20that just goes on and on and on. And so if you've had symptoms that just aren't budging,

01:27head in and see your GP. And likewise, often if there's a case at a school or a daycare centre,

01:32there'll be alerts out to families. So obviously, if you've had one of those and your kids are sick,

01:37pop on in and see us at the GP and we'll make sure that you're aware of what's happening and that

01:42we can protect the community as well as your family.

01:44What are vaccination rates like at the moment?

01:48Sadly, across a lot of our vaccination rates, we're slipping and that's both in our childhood

01:54and our adult immunisation rates. And that's not something we should be proud of. We're below

01:59the 95% that we need with whooping cough to get that herd immunity. And so really important that we

02:06get our kids along for all their routine immunisations. And then a target like this one where we need to

02:12for pregnant women and carers of young children.

02:15Why do you think it's happening? Why do you think people are forgetting or showing reluctance?

02:20I think it's a combination of things. There is, of course, a bunch of misinformation and floating

02:26around on social media that's getting people unnecessarily concerned. But also people were a bit sick

02:32and tired of vaccines through the pandemic, but we're well and truly clear of that level of vaccination

02:37now. And I think people struggle to take the time off of work or school. But we do need a whole

02:43community effort for vaccinations. And so really important to make that time, go in and have a

02:48conversation with your GP if you've got questions. And we need to protect the health of all Australians.

02:54You do it on a national scale. Come on programmes like ours and talk about it to raise awareness

03:00of it. But out in the community and in doctors' surgeries, what is happening there to try and

03:07encourage people to give them the right information? Is there a national push?

03:13Yeah, so I do the bit of both. So here today talking to all of Australia, but also one by one

03:18talk to my patients as a GP, as do all of my colleagues around the country. And it is a time where we're

03:23having to answer more questions. People have wonder about kind of how immunisation works and really want

03:30to understand it before deciding whether to participate. And that's a really important

03:34part of our job. And at the AMA, along with the Commonwealth and state and territory governments,

03:39we're also working on what are the other programmes and campaigns that could be run to help make sure

03:47Australians have all the information they need. And so that GPs have the tools we need as well to help

03:52make those conversations easier.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended