Whooping cough cases surge in WA’s South West

Potentially deadly whooping cough is surging in the anti-vax capital of WA, with cases in the South West up more than 600 per cent. So far this year there have been 81 cases of whooping cough in the South West region, where vaccination rates lag much of the State. That compares to 11 last year and just four for the previous two years. Cases in metropolitan Perth are also sharply higher — up more than 200 per cent — with 244 reported cases, compared to 78 last year and 31 the year before. The spike has alarmed doctors, who have warned against vaccine fatigue or anti-vax sentiment preventing particularly pregnant women and young children from being vaccinated. Whooping cough, or pertussis, is a highly infectious disease of the respiratory tract that can be life-threatening for babies and young children. The whooping cough vaccine, which can prevent serious disease, is free under the National Immunisation Program for babies, young children, adolescents and pregnant women. Australian Medical Association WA president Michael Page said the spike in cases was a concern. He said, while only an epidemiologist could confirm if low vaccination rates were to blame for the current surge, low vaccination rates put vulnerable people at risk. “It’s a big spike in cases,” he said. “We were overdue for a spike, but certainly we’re in a spike of cases and vulnerable people need protection. “The communities with low vaccination rates are vulnerable to these epidemics and people living there are vulnerable to the effects.” The WA Health Department did not provide a breakdown of the number of cases by towns in the South-West, a region that includes Margaret River, Dunsborough and Bridgetown. The Augusta-Margaret River Times recently reported that townships from Augusta to Busselton had some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. Australian Immunisation Register figures showed vaccination rates for two-year-olds of 83 per cent and one-year-olds at 84 per cent — well below the 91 per cent WA average. WA Department of Health data shows the South-West region’s vaccine coverage for whooping cough ranges from 88 per cent in one-year-olds to 90 per cent in five-year-olds. The WA average is 92 per cent for one-year-olds and 93 per cent for five-year-olds. At Bridgetown Medical Centre practice manager Sharon Gardner said she had “never seen anything like” the outbreak that hit the town last month. “We were notified by the primary school and then all of a sudden it was like the floodgates had opened,” she said. “It wasn’t usual for this time of the year, it was very unusual. I’ve been with the practice for nine years and I’ve never seen anything like it.” A department spokeswoman said there was no evidence to suggest that vaccine fatigue or anti-vaccine sentiment was responsible for the spike in cases in the South-West region. She said the last significant pertussis epidemic in WA occurred more than 10 years ago, but spikes in cases typically happened every few years. Pre-COVID, WA averaged 1904 cases a year from 2010 to 2019. “Overall, pertussis cases will likely continue increasing in WA and nationally, eventually returning to pre-pandemic levels,” she said. There has been one death in WA from whooping cough this year. The West Australian spoke to some South West locals who were vaccine-hesitant or opposed to childhood vaccinations. They cited perceived side effects, uncertainty over what the vaccines contained and a belief that a healthy immune system was enough to ward off serious illness. Margaret River mother Shelby Morgan said she did not vaccinate her daughter because she believed the side effects outweighed the risks. She said she was not concerned about the risks posed by serious illnesses like whooping cough, RSV or influenza “as we are all aware now vaccines don’t stop you contracting or transmitting any of these”. While people who are vaccinated against some diseases can still contract them, vaccines typically limit the severity of the illness. The State Government’s recently launched immunisation campaign includes the emotional story of Catherine and Greg Hughes who lost their baby son Riley to whooping cough in 2015 when he was just one month old. Riley was too young to have received the whooping cough vaccine but would have had some protection if his mother had been vaccinated when she was pregnant. “Throughout my pregnancy, the whooping cough vaccine wasn’t mentioned to me as it was not available to pregnant mothers in Western Australia at the time,” Ms Hughes said. “Had I been offered the whooping cough vaccination in pregnancy, there is a good chance Riley would still be with us today. “Studies have shown that babies born to a mother who received it during pregnancy were 90 per cent less likely to contract this terrible disease.” Since Riley’s death free whooping cough vaccinations have been introduced across the country for all pregnant women.