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After seeing so much about whooping cough lately I went into DD blue book to see at what vaccinations she gets this but it doesn't list "whooping cough" on the schedule.
Can anyone tell me what it's called on the schedule or is it not automatically on the vaccination schedule and an extra one we'd need to request?
pertussis
its called Pertussis
In the NSW Bluebook it is under DTPa (as of 2006) - although NSW Health now uses Infanrix Hexa, which is diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), hepatitis B, poliomyelitis (polio) and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) in one shot. On the Schedule it is 2m, 4m, 6m and 4y.
Yup, they'll get a shot for whooping cough at every scheduled visit (except 18months - that's just chicken pox).
NSW health have just introduced a new scheme where they're offering a free whooping cough booster to any adult who is in regular contact with a baby under 12 months old. Are you in NSW? If so, could be worth asking your GP about if you're worried.
QLD also has free whooping cough boosters for parents.
DH and I just paid $50 each for the whooping cough booster for ourselves (actually whooping cough, tetanus and diptheria all in one). DD won't get her first until she's 2 months old (then again at 4 months, 6 months, 4 years - I guess it's the same nationally). We're in Melbourne.
I was told that we could get it cheaper if we went along to the local council for our shots when DD has hers. I don't know how much cheaper that would be, but I didn't want to wait for another 6 weeks before her parents were protected, because it's definitely in the community and I gather that an adult can have it and not even realise they have it, and then pass it onto a baby, for whom it is a dangerous disease. Not a risk we wanted to take.
Tenar, yep that's the shot they are offering free for parents and other adults here (DTPa). It's a bummer the VIC govt aren't offering it free - perhaps they will jump on the band wagon soon too.
Definitely it is around and definitely it is a serious illness for babies.