From the BMJ yesterday:

Nine infants died from whooping cough in England between November last year and the end of May 2024, the UK Health Security Agency has reported. Altogether a total of 7599 cases of whooping cough have been confirmed in England this year, with cases continuing to rise from 555 in January to 920 in February, 1427 in March, 2106.

_{https://www.bmj.com/content/386/bmj.q1545.full}

I’ll be accused of being a ghoul for this but by the same folk who love to blame our drug deaths on the SNP Government, so from our regular contributor stewartb in May 2024:

My suspicion – because I’ve never come across anything about whooping cough in the mainstream media that supposedly ‘serves’ Scotland – is that there may well be a favourable story on Scotland’s health services somewhere in the above from Sky News today and indeed there is!

From Public Health Scotland on 26 March 2024 (‘Childhood immunisation statistics Scotland – Quarter and year ending 31 December 2023’) , we learn that the vaccination for pertussis, or whooping cough since October 2017, has been ‘part of the combined 6-in-1 vaccine, consisting of diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib and Hepatitis B. A booster dose is also given to children at around 3 years 4 months of age.’

Here are the 2023 take-up rates for the combined 6-in-1 vaccine in Scotland (https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/26192/2024-03-26-childhood-immunisation-report.pdf) :

• ‘In 2023, uptake by 12 months of age of the complete 3 dose course of the 6-in-1 vaccine was 95.0%, down from 95.7% in 2022 and 96.4% in 2021. However, uptake rates have remained at or above 95% throughout the last decade.’
  • ‘Uptake ranged from 93.0% in the most deprived areas (SIMD quintile 1) to 97.4% in the least deprived areas (SIMD quintile 5), a difference in uptake of 4.4 percentage points.’
• ‘Uptake by 24 months in 2023 was 96.2% ..’.

‘Protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough) and polio can wane over time. …  From the age of 3 years 4 months, children should be invited to receive booster doses of diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio (given as a single injection, the 4-in-1 booster vaccine) and a second dose of MMR vaccine.’

• ‘Uptake rates of both vaccines remained above 90% between 2012 and 2022. From a high in 2014 (4-in-1, 94.2%; MMR second dose, 93.4%), there were slight decreases in uptake each year until 2019 when rates increased slightly. In the latest year, uptake was 89.6% for the 4-in-1 vaccine and 89.1% for the second dose of MMR (Figure 5), where uptake fell below 90% for the first time since 2011.’

Rates of uptake for all childhood vaccinations across the UK are available for comparison: see the table given in NHS England (28 September, 2023) Childhood Vaccination Coverage Statistics, England, 2022-23 (see https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-immunisation-statistics/england-2022-23/6in-1-vaccine ).

Inspection of the table will show that on every metric (bar two) Scotland has the highest percentage take-up rates of the UK countries. (Scotland’s rate is slightly lower than Wales on 12 month coverage for PVC (Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine) and equal to Wales on coverage at 5 years for first MMR1 dose.) 

Specifically on the 6-in-1 vaccine relevant to preventing whooping cough, the figure for Scotland is 94.5% and for England 91.8%. The figure for the most derived areas of Scotland was 93%. At 24 months the uptake of the same vaccine in Scotland was 96.5% and in England 92.6.

Reflections? Firstly, there is no room for complacency in Scotland on the subject of vaccine take-up.. Secondly, once again the available facts about Scotland’s health services run counter to the gaslighting of Scotland’s electorate perpetrated by Unionist politicians and their mainstream media allies.