Beginning today, June 26, a new whooping cough vaccine will replace the vaccine which has been used previously in Prince Edward Island. This new vaccine is now licenced in Canada and has just become available in this country.
For several years there has been research carried out in many countries aimed at improving the whooping cough vaccine which is given to children at the ages of 2,4,6 and 18 months and at 4.5 years in combination with the diphtheria, tetanus, polio and meningitis vaccines.
A number of children have had reactions such as a high fever after receiving the old whooping cough vaccine. The new vaccine is made of only those parts of the whooping cough bacteria which provide protection against the disease. The old vaccine was prepared from the entire bacteria which included parts of the cell which caused immunity but also resulted in reactions to the vaccine.
In addition to causing fewer reactions, the new vaccine is expected to provide better protection against whooping cough than did the old vaccine.
The introduction of this new vaccine will not require any change in the usual schedule of immunizations given to children.
Whooping cough is still a major cause of illness in PEI because the old vaccine did not provide 100% protection against the disease and some children were not able to receive a full course of the vaccine due to reactions. The new vaccine is not expected to result in the disease disappearing from the province but should reduce the number of cases which do occur in PEI each year.