The COVID-19 pandemic has made it impossible for some people to get vaccinated against other infectious diseases, including whooping cough. imagebroker/Alamy Hide caption
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Whooping cough is spreading across the country at the highest level since 2014. More than 16,000 people have been infected this year, more than four times the number from the same period last year, and two people have died. And experts fear the outbreak could get worse in the fall and winter.
“More kids are going back to school now, which is leading to more spread,” said Dr. Eric Chow, director of epidemiology and immunization at the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health. “We are approaching the winter season where people are spending more time indoors with others.”
The disease is most dangerous to infants, with 1 in 3 requiring hospitalization.
Pertussis cases are currently on the rise, especially on the West Coast.
King County, where Seattle is located, has seen more cases this year than any year since 2015, but “the year is not over yet,” Chou said. The county is still seeing new cases of whooping cough each week, he said.
Why is it so popular now?
Experts say there are many possible explanations for the scale of the current outbreak.
Doctors are increasing testing for whooping cough and identifying more cases.
The bacteria that causes the disease may have mutated.
It has also slowed in vaccinating people during the pandemic and has not been able to catch up.
“One of the challenges we have with[the vaccine to prevent whooping cough]is that it is given in a five-dose series over the first six years of life, so it requires regular primary care visits.” ” said Chow.
And not everyone can go to the doctor regularly, Chow said.
But access is not the only issue.
Dr. Tina Tan, a pediatric infectious disease physician at Northwestern University and president-elect of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said, “There are still many people who are hesitant about vaccines and anti-vaxxers who won’t vaccinate their children.” said.
Whooping cough looks like a mild cold for the first few weeks, but then coughing attacks begin.
Infected babies “will wheeze when they cough,” Tan said. “Then they’ll cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, and then sometimes it doesn’t seem like they’re breathing at all.”
Mr Tan said such cessation of breathing is life-threatening and a sign that it is time to go to hospital.
Whooping cough can also cause pneumonia and other complications.
However, infants cannot receive their first vaccination to prevent whooping cough (also known as whooping cough) until they are 2 months old.
“That’s why it’s important for pregnant women to receive the pertussis vaccine during pregnancy, so they can protect their babies for the first two months of their lives until they’re old enough to vaccinate themselves,” Tan said. Ta.
Even before the pandemic, only about half of pregnant women received the pertussis vaccine. Now, that number is even lower.
In King County, of the 12 infants diagnosed with pertussis this year, the mothers were not vaccinated during pregnancy.
Fear and confidence in vaccines
Dr. Chow, of the Seattle-King County Public Health Department, said this is a missed opportunity.
“Sometimes you need to sit down and have a conversation with a patient who may be a little hesitant or who may have come across misinformation, so to build trust and rapport. “It will take longer,” he said.
Also, not all gynecologists offer vaccines in their offices, and some may not be able to afford to go to a pharmacy to get vaccinated.
At a playground in Seattle’s White Center neighborhood, Kaye, who has two children, ages 12 and 4, said she had always been hesitant about vaccines.
Kaye declined to give her last name, fearing that her personal medical information would be leaked.
“With COVID-19, there was more fear, because everyone started saying, ‘The COVID-19 vaccination is actually not good for you,'” Kay said. spoke. “Then I thought, ‘Maybe other vaccines don’t work, either.’ And I went down the rabbit hole of finding children who had been vaccinated and had died. .”
Experts say the vaccines are very safe and can prevent diseases that once killed or harmed millions of infants, children and adults.
Kaye eventually got her 4-year-old daughter the vaccinations she needed for daycare, but nothing else.
“Getting child care is hard for me. It’s easier for me to say, ‘Okay, just give me whatever I need to get her to school,'” Kay said.
So her daughter got the required whooping cough vaccine but not the mandatory coronavirus vaccine.
Aaron Sittinghorse was at the same playground as his 3-year-old daughter. He said the pandemic had had the opposite effect on his thinking about vaccines.
“It showed us how important vaccines are,” he said. “So now I believe in vaccines, even if it’s not just for me, but for the people around me.”
Sittinghorse said he saw on the news that there was a pertussis outbreak right now and was a little worried, but he said he and his family are up to date with vaccinations so he’s not too worried.
