An illustration of Bacteria Bordetella pertussis which causes whooping cough. Photo: 123RF
Public health officials are urgently trying to sequence a strain of whooping cough to see if it is unusually deadly.
Te Whatu Ora has set up an expert taskforce to investigate after three babies died from the disease, also known as pertussis, this year.
Te Whatu Ora public health director Nick Chamberlain said it was concerning to have had three deaths when there had only been 11 cases officially reported.
"The taskforce will be looking at what sort of messaging we can put out targeting vaccination and an investigation around... whether this particular strain of whooping cough is more deadly, and certainly with only 11 cases and three deaths, it indicates that that may be the case," he said.
The taskforce was working with ESR to try to get the strain genetically sequenced and was speaking with overseas colleagues to see if any severe disease was circulating internationally.
It was also looking at the possibility of undetected community transmission.
There had been 300 surveillance tests of people with respiratory symptoms last week - all came back negative, Chamberlain said.
In the previous 25 years, there had been a total of 10 deaths from whooping cough. The deadliest epidemic was 2011 to 2013, when four babies died, and there were 11,433 cases recorded.
The taskforce, which included paediatricians, public health physicians, and infectious disease specialists, will share recommendations later this week.
In the meantime, Te Whatu Ora had written to doctors and midwives telling them to prioritise getting pregnant women vaccinated to protect their newborns who could not be immunised for six weeks.
Doctors were very worried about the low rate of childhood vaccinations and the implications for future outbreaks of disease.
Chamberlain told Morning Report only 25 percent of the 50 pregnant women who got vaccinated were Māori.
He said during Covid, childhood immunisations took a backseat, particularly with access to primary care, to Māori and Pasifika providers.
Listen to the full interview with Te Whatu Ora's public health director Dr Nick Chamberlain here
"It was challenging to be able to provide those immunisations and ... some of the misinformation and the confusion that occurs, the lack of confidence, as you confuse Covid immunisation with childhood immunisations, and so we saw a significant drop in immunisation rates," he said.
A report released on Wednesday made 54 recommendations to try to lift the "dire" rate for under-fives that had plummeted during the Covid pandemic.
Immunisations during pregnancy needed a dedicated strategy
An advisor to the College of Midwives, Claire MacDonald, said there needed to be structural support and a strategy put around immunisation during pregnancy.
MacDonald told Morning Report lack of structure and awareness about immunisation during pregnancy could be a factor in the low rate of immunisation.
"There are lots of reasons, but really it sort of starts at the top and the fact that we haven't had a dedicated strategy and focus on immunisation during pregnancy means that we don't have the right accessibility."
She said immunisations needed to have a community approach.
"We need to be talking to the communities themselves and saying, where would you go? What's important, and a lot of what we talked about in the task force report, was actually about engaging with those communities and meeting them where they are."
She said with the right public messaging, reputable advice, and good access, immunisation rates could be increased.
"I mean, if you think about what we achieved during the Covid vaccine campaign, the whole system turned their attention to it and that's how we achieve very high rates." - Claire MacDonald
She said midwives have been advising vaccinations for whooping cough and influenza long before the national immunisation taskforce recommendations were put in place.
MacDonald said the first step to protecting babies from whopping cough was getting vaccinated during pregnancy and six-week immunisations thereafter.
Chamberlain said anyone who was unwell, had a cough or a runny nose should stay away from babies.
"The most important measure is when you're pregnant, make you sure that you have your Boostrix vaccination."