30-Jun-2011
The number of whooping cough infections on the Sunshine Coast has nearly doubled, with 426 confirmed cases from January to May this year, compared with 218 cases in 2011. While young babies are routinely vaccinated against whooping cough, newborns are often infected with the potentially deadly disease by adults close to them. Queensland Health is offering free booster vaccines to parents (birth, foster and adoptive), grandparents and other adults living in a household with babies aged less than six months old. Nambour GP and former Australian Medical Association Queensland president Wayne Herdy said only a small percentage of adults had taken up the offer so far, but urged them to protect their babies by getting vaccinated.
