In this review:
Pertussis (commonly known as whooping cough) is an epidemic disease in New Zealand. Despite having recently achieved high coverage with the primary infant pertussis immunisation series large epidemics continue to occur. Since the beginning of the most recent epidemic, in 2011, more than 12,000 pertussis cases have been notified with three infant deaths.1 This review discusses why New Zealand continues to have an unacceptably large pertussis problem and our options for preventing pertussis, including new data on effectiveness of maternal immunisation and a PHARMAC funding update to expand maternal immunisation outside of epidemics.
Download PDF