COUGH KID BAN

Anti-vax students told to stay away as infection rocks school

UNVACCINATED students of a public school have been told to stay at home for three weeks due to an outbreak of whooping cough. Fifteen students at Palm Beach State School have contracted the highly contagious infection.

“A lot of parents, especially parents of young babies, are not going to risk it,” a mother said.

UNVACCINATED students at a Gold Coast school have been told to stay at home for the next three weeks due to an outbreak of whooping cough.

The Gold Coast Public Health Unit said 15 students at Palm Beach State School had contracted the highly contagious respiratory infection, also known as pertussis.

On Monday, parents of children not fully vaccinated were asked by the health department to keep their children at home until the school holidays end on October 8.

A mother of a Palm Beach State School student said many parents were keeping their children home for fear of contracting the infection.

“A lot of parents I have spoken to, especially parents of young babies, are not going to risk it,” she said. “Parents are also taking time off work.

“I am keeping all of my children home until after the school holidays.”

The mother said she was surprised the wider community had not been notified given the contagious nature of the infection.

“I was surprised the first we were hearing about it was Monday. It upset me,” she said.

“The school is a fabulous little school and has done everything right, I can’t fault them. I just think that the greater public need to know. It is scary the number of unvaccinated children in the area.

“I am worried about pregnant mums, babies and people with lower immune systems.

“Some babies are so young they can’t be vaccinated yet.”

Staff specialist Professor Paul Van Buynder said the Gold Coast Public Health Unit was working with the school to manage the outbreak.

“Whooping cough can be life threatening for babies and young children, but thankfully rarely causes severe disease in school-aged children,” he said.

“In order to manage the outbreak the school has written to parents and carers to request unvaccinated students and those who are currently experiencing symptoms of whooping cough remain at home until the new school term begins.

“While we do see small clusters of cases like this from time to time, there is no major outbreak that should cause alarm.

“We’ve seen 115 confirmed cases to date this year on the Coast, which is down on the more than 150 cases we’d expect to see by this time of year.

“The best defence is to ensure that your vaccinations are fully up to date.”

A day earlier, Pimpama State Primary College said one of its Year 3 students had contracted the disease. The student had since been cleared.

NOW is not the time for finger pointing or blaming any individual for the outbreak of whooping cough at

Palm Beach State school.

Parents of children afflicted with this terrible illness will be beside themselves with worry about their young ones.

And the sheer number of children struck down by whooping cough at the school — a staff member told one parent it was 20 — will send a shock wave across the Gold Coast.

Every parent of school-aged children will today wake with concern about how widely this outbreak has and may still spread.

But this episode — and we hope and pray it does not become more than that — is a timely reminder of the dangers preventable diseases can still pose to all of us.

The Bulletin has for years been a strident supporter of Gold Coast Health in its pleas for parents and the wider community to protect our kids by vaccinating them.

In January 2015, reflecting on the harrowing story of a little Gold Coast girl’s battle against whooping cough, we said:

“People too selfish to take jabs because of crazy stories about side-effects should sit next to families like the Yarnolds, and watch firsthand the cruel consequences of innocent babies and infants fighting for their lives through no fault of their own.

The immunisation debate is dead and buried. It is time for selfish people to stop putting others, many of them innocent children, at risk.’’

In August 2015, in response to an ignorant and ill-conceived social media campaign waged by so-called anti-vaxxers, we said: “These killers are making a comeback because groups are refusing to allow their children to be injected, fearing the consequences of side effects that health authorities have repeatedly stated occur only rarely.”

In response to alarming figures showing another slump in whooping cough vaccination rates in December 2016, we said: “... the undeniable fact is vaccinations work. Since the first inoculation campaign against diphtheria in 1932, vaccine programs have eradicated illnesses that destroyed countless lives. Parents resistant to vaccinations only have to talk to older relatives about the brutality a polio epidemic caused in the first half of the last century.’’

Federal figures released in February 2016 showed the number of cases of whooping cough had surged in 2014-15 to 6670. It was a massive peak after 3988 presentations the previous year, driven by outbreaks by ignorant hicks in NSW and Victoria.

In short, people who refuse to vaccinate their children are ignoring scientific facts. They are embracing ignorant ideology at the expense of their kids, and importantly, that of every other kid in the community, at risk.

We are not suggesting any parent of Palm Beach State School children who have contracted whooping cough are to blame. We cannot know whether or not they have vaccinated their kids.

But more generally we again make this plea: It is time for selfish people to stop putting others in danger.