2023-06-02 10:33:28
At least 215 cases of whooping cough have been reported to the Health Ministry since January, 12 times more than during the same period in 2022, which recorded just 17 cases.
The vast majority of cases are located in Jerusalem and among haredim, in communities where vaccination rates are lower than the average for other populations. Nine cases have been identified in the Tel Aviv area.
Pertussis is a highly contagious but preventable disease caused by bacteria that spread easily via coughing or sneezing. It is particularly dangerous for babies, who may experience severe coughing and wheezing as well as vomiting, fever and runny nose. In the most severe cases, there may be apneas (breathing pauses), cyanosis (bluing of the skin) or even death.
It is for this reason that the Israeli Pediatric Association sent a letter on June 1 to the Minister of Health, Moshe Arbel, and the Director General of the Ministry of Health, Moshe Bar Siman Tov, asking them to take emergency measures once morest the epidemic by sending mobile vaccination units to neighborhoods with vaccination deficits.
Vaccination once morest whooping cough consists of several injections starting at the age of two months. It is also recommended for pregnant women during the third trimester of pregnancy.
A pregnant woman gets vaccinated once morest COVID-19 at the Givatayim shopping center outside Tel Aviv on August 23, 2021. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
“This epidemic is the result of under-vaccination induced by the coronavirus pandemic”, explains to the Times of Israel Professor Zachi Grossman, President of the Israel Pediatric Association.
Grossman links this under-vaccination to a form of COVID vaccine fatigue.
“If you look at national coverage rates – not just the Jerusalem area – you see a decline over the past two years. Not just in Israel. This is the case everywhere else in the West… It is probably linked to the two major problems associated with COVID vaccines, namely the accessibility of vaccination centers due to confinements and the fear of exposure to the virus in the hospitals and clinics, and the controversy over the safety of coronavirus vaccines,” says Grossman.
“All of this has had an impact on what until now we considered complete confidence in childhood vaccination. This was clearly not the case,” he adds.
The President of the Israeli Pediatric Association, Professor Zachi Grossman. (Authorisation)
Grossman asked the Health Ministry to remember that there have traditionally been more outbreaks – whooping cough, polio or measles – in Haredi neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Some are due to resistance in principle to the vaccine and to the national health system. Grossman sees the influence of the size and living conditions of families haredi.
“In these neighborhoods, the inhabitants – large families – live in conditions favorable to contagion. These are not people opposed to vaccines in principle. But they struggle to get all of their children to attend pediatric consultations (a la Tipat Chalav),” says Grossman.
“This is where mobile vaccination units have an important role to play. Vaccines must be made accessible. We can have food delivered, so why not vaccines, ”he suggests.
The Israel Association of Midwives also released a statement advising pregnant women in their 27th to 36th week to get a whooping cough shot.
“It is essential to be vaccinated at the end of pregnancy in order to protect the baby when it comes into the world. It is then protected by antibodies once morest whooping cough, which cross the placenta, and provide it with effective defenses during the first four months of its life.
“Vaccination is safe for mother and baby,” the statement said.
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