Media release from Ministry of Health

The following comments may be attributed to:
David Wansbrough, Manager Immunisation, Ministry of Health

Recent media stories about whooping cough (pertussis) were mistakenly based on information which is significantly out-of-date.

The media stories appear to be based on a six-year old Ministry of Health press statement, which can be seen here: www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/pagesmh/3433?Open.   

These stories include numerous verbatim quotes from that 2004 media release, and also cite old data as if they were current.   

The stories say the number of whooping cough cases "spiked in August" with "more than 350" reported cases - which was in fact correct for August 2004.   In August 2010 there were 79 reported cases in New Zealand, down from 110 in August 2009.

The cumulative number of cases reported to the end of August 2010 was 621 - nearly 250 fewer cases than were reported in the equivalent period last year.   

Immunisation for whooping cough is free for children.