Help us reinstate free Whooping Cough boosters for pregnant mums

Following the pattern of other Australian States, the NSW Government recently scrapped the provision of free Whooping Cough boosters for expecting mothers. This is a mistake.

From July 15, new mums will have to organise and pay for the booster before they give birth or even fall pregnant.

As noted in The Northern Star – the newspaper of the NSW North Coast, a region most at risk due to low immunisation rates – Dr Chris Ingall states:

The vaccine is so important because if the mother is immune her chance of contracting pertussis during birth is much less and the baby will be relatively immune within the first month

It would be very sad to see the choice of whether or not a mother has it decrease because the vaccine is not subsidised 

As also outlined in the Star article, the consequences of this new policy will likely be disastrous:

Toni McCaffery said she was “gobsmacked” at the removal of a program introduced as a result of her daughter’s death.

“Dana was the catalyst that started the policy change and to remove the free vaccine is a high blow,” Mrs McCaffery said.

“Because of this new change in policy, it’s going to be harder for women to access the booster, which may endanger a child,” she said.

She also said it was shortsighted for the government to remove the policy with the view an epidemic had passed.

“The thing with whooping cough is that it’s cyclical and immunity wains within three years,” she said.

Tonight, on the Network Ten program The Project, public health champions Toni and David McCaffery again put themselves out there for the benefit of our entire community. This is a magnificent segment, and kudos to The Project team for their factual treatment of this latest series of events.

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Please visit this petition, and add your voice:  Whooping Cough Booster: Make it Clear, Make it Easy, Make it Affordable.

From Toni’s evidence-based petition:

Whooping cough can kill 1 in 200 babies that catch it. There is no cure. But whooping cough is preventable.

Research by the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance has proved the adult whooping cough booster program is working – it halves the risk of newborns catching whooping cough and the epidemic has slowed.

Why stop now? Whooping cough cycles come every three years – as quickly as immunity wanes.

We need to increase community immunity, prevent the next outbreak and protect our babies.

We ask all governments to Make it Clear, Make it Easy, Make it Affordable…to give researchers the time they need to Make it Free

Make it Clear
Stop the confusion and make it clear that every adult needs a regular whooping cough booster, and that women should get one before they are pregnant or in their third trimester to give their baby the best protection. Just like women know to take folic acid – they need to know they should get a booster to protect their baby.

Make it Easy
Introduce simple things to prompt doctors and midwives to tell parents: include in pre-pregnancy information, insert a checkbox on antenatal cards and hospital interview forms, and help doctors, obstetricians and health clinics to keep the booster in stock.

Make it Affordable
When governments funded the boosters, it cost them about $25 per vaccine. But for the public, costs can vary anywhere from $35 up to $90, plus the cost of several visits to the GP – which can total anywhere up to $200. If governments won’t pay, at least help keep the costs down to help caring adults create a chain of protection. Support the AMA and GP networks to order in vaccines at a discounted rate to make it affordable for all adults – mums-to-be, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends.

Make it Free
By implementing these actions we can keep whooping cough at bay and protect babies. This will give researchers the time they need to gather the data and apply to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) to get the 18-month childhood whooping cough booster and adult booster for pregnant women on the free National Immunisation Program.

To find out more about whooping cough and why adults need boosters, please refer to reputable sources:

Immunise Australia Program

The Australian Immunisation Handbook

The National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance

www.chainofprotection.org

Let’s get this done, folks. Babies’ lives depend on our action.

dana_mccaffery

About reasonable hank

I'm reasonable, mostly.
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7 Responses to Help us reinstate free Whooping Cough boosters for pregnant mums

  1. Debbie says:

    Dana’s sad story is the reason my entire immediate family has had whooping cough shots in preparation for our baby being born in the next few months. It’s also the reason no-one will come within cooee of our baby for 6 months if they haven’t had a shot. Keep up the fight Toni and David.

  2. Anna Putland says:

    This is ridiculous. If you change it to something that has to be payed for, people are going to assume it’s not important. After all, if it was important wouldn’t the government be doing eveything they could to make it readily accessible to even the most disadvantaged members of the community? And from a purely financial point of view, surely it’s cheaper to immunise healthy mothers than it is to treat sick babies.

  3. wzrd1 says:

    One has to ponder the rationale behind this decision. Is it purely financial, essentially fixing the price of an infant’s life? Is it political, a nod to the AVN and other anti-vaccination agitators?
    In either case, those who made this decision should face the voters and explain their decision, especially in the face of an upcoming epidemic in NSW that this action would directly contribute fuel to.

  4. Andy says:

    So, despite all their bluster a couple of months ago about the evil AVN putting community vaccination status at risk, the NSW Parliament have likely done more harm with one small change to health policy.

    In early May, the AVN were described by members of the NSW Parliament as “profoundly disreputable” and Meryl Dorey’s campaign was labelled “immoral”. There was talk of “serious health consequences” from the AVN’s activities and demands that parliament must “do everything we can” to prevent infant deaths.

    And now, this.

    Profoundly disreputable.

  5. Would probably be more use to ask the Royal Family if all within cooee have had their shots… good enough to protect the 3rd in line to the British Royal Crown – good enough for many others!

  6. wendy says:

    This is totally ridiculous to scrap the the free whooping cough vacinne how can the Australian govourment justify this HELLO whooping cough is contagous and dangerous to new born babies and young kids Get your proritys right VERY ANGURY about this situation.

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