Your whooping cough booster is the best gift you can give a new family

When someone close to us announces a new pregnancy, it's natural to want to gift them something special.  

It doesn’t matter if it’s someone’s first baby or their fifth. If you expect to spend time with the newborn before they are old enough to complete their whooping cough vaccinations, it's important to have your booster.

Why is a whooping cough booster important?

• Whooping cough (pertussis) is a very contagious bacterial infection and outbreaks spread easily in families, day-cares and kindergartens
• Not every infected person is symptomatic, meaning you can pass on the infection without knowing you have it
• Babies under six months old are the most at-risk group because they cannot begin receiving their course of vaccinations until they are two months old
• Babies' symptoms can evolve very quickly and develop into complications
• These complications can be very serious, including difficulty breathing and pneumonia

A single booster provides protection against whooping cough

Remember, you can’t get whooping cough from the vaccine. The vaccine does not contain live bacteria and works by stimulating the immune system to create antibodies.

Many people don’t experience side-effects from vaccinations. If you do, they will likely be mind and similar other vaccinations, such as tenderness at the injection site, tiredness or muscle ache.