Whooping cough vaccine to be offered to Jerusalem infants in June due to a number of cases

Municipality, Health Ministry call on parents on babies from 6 weeks to 4 months and older to bring them in for shots without appointment.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Vaccine syringe (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Vaccine syringe
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Due to a number of whooping cough cases among babies in Jerusalem recently, the municipality will on Sunday launch a vaccination campaign at all 32 well-baby (Tipat Halav) stations.
Only vaccinations, doctors’ and vision examinations and checks of newborn infants will be carried out during the campaign, which is to run through the month of June.
The municipality and the Health Ministry call on parents of babies from six weeks to four months and older ones who have not been immunized against whooping cough to bring them in for their shots with no need to make an appointment.
Whooping cough (pertussis) is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection that is characterized by a hacking cough followed by a high-pitched intake of breath that sounds like “whoop.” Before the vaccine was developed, whooping cough was considered a childhood disease, but today it mostly strikes babies too young to have finished the full course of vaccinations, as well as teens and adults whose immunity from previous vaccinations has weakened.
A series of five shots of pertussis vaccine are given during childhood.
Deaths associated with whooping cough are rare but most commonly occur in infants. Pregnant women and others who will have close contact with an infant must be vaccinated against whooping cough.
Jerusalem’s Tipat Halav stations will function during regular hours, but the phone information service will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at (02) 629- 6540 or 629-8074.
The whooping cough vaccination campaign will be carried out in coordination with Health Ministry public health chief Prof. Itamar Grotto and Jerusalem District Physician Dr. Chen Zamir.