California Faces Worst Whooping Cough Epidemic in Half a Century, Six Babies Dead
California: Health officials have called for people of all ages, in particular people who might come into contact with young babies, to be vaccinated as whooping cough levels reach epidemic levels in the state with the worst months still to come.
To date six infants have died. All six victims were too young to be fully vaccinated. Officials say we need to vaccinate around vulnerable infants to protect them. Whooping cough, or pertussis, kills babies by literally suffocating them.
"We have noticed that to some degree [the epidemic pattern] matches counties where there is a higher percent of kids not immunized because of personal-belief exemptions," said Gilberto Chavez from the Infectious Disease Center at the Dept of Health.
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