VT Health Dept.: Whooping Cough Cases Down in 2013 - FOX44 - Burlington / Plattsburgh News, Weather & Sports

The Vermont Department of Health says whooping cough cases are way down after their vaccination and information campaign.

"We can't declare the end of this outbreak, but we're thankful that Vermonters responded as they did to slow the spread of illness,"said Health Commissioner Harry Chen, MD "Cases spiked at the end of the year and have steadily decreased since then. This is good proof that our vaccination and information efforts are working."

A press release says after a record 645 confirmed cases of whooping cough in Vermont during 2012, the number of cases is sharply down since mid-December.  

On December 19, 'Vermont Tdap Vaccine Day', the Health Department's 12 district offices vaccinated 3,269 older children and adults against whooping cough. The Health Department says since then hundreds more have been vaccinated at both the Health Department and health care provider offices.

Experts say the best way to prevent the disease everyone age 11 and older get a Tdap shot, and that women get the vaccine with each pregnancy. Babies need five doses of the vaccine called Dtap - at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 15 to 18 months, and 4 to 6 years.

"The vaccine is not perfect - its effectiveness wanes over time," said Patsy Kelso, state epidemiologist for infectious disease. "This makes it all the more important for everyone who can be vaccinated to do so, both to protect yourself and to protect those who are too young or who have medical conditions that prevent them from being vaccinated."

So far in 2013, there has been a total of 42 confirmed cases. 89 cases were reported during the same time last year.