DESPITE widespread communications about the state-funded whooping cough vaccination program in New Zealand, many women who did not have the vaccine had not been alerted to it during their pregnancy, according to a Fairfax report.
Pharmacists conducting research discovered the information shortfall about the program which has been in place since 2013, with vaccination free through GPs, public hospitals and some pharmacies.
As well as not being told about the disease, some mothers failled to have the vaccine over concerns about safety and other misinformation.
Babies are not given a whooping vaccine until they are six weeks old but if they contract the bacterial disease in those first weeks, the result can be fatal.
NZ child hospital admission rates for the disease are around three-fold higher than in Australia and the United States.
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