They allow earlier vaccination of babies against whooping cough

The Ministry of Health to allow the first immunization against whooping cough to be administered earlier – about a month and a half after birth, and not as stipulated in the Immunization Calendar – after the baby’s second month – such a decision was taken at a meeting of Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev with the health officials authorities and a representative of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

The meeting was attended by the Minister of Health Dr Galya Kondevathe Deputy Minister of Education and Science Emilia Lazarova and the chief state health inspector Assoc. Angel Kunchev.

The reason for the decision is that, at the moment, the most registered cases are those under the age of 1 year, and complications in newborns are more common. In Kyustendil, the first deaths of babies of pre-immunization age were also registered, and the health authorities clarified that it was a case of late sought medical help.

According to the Minister of Health, Galya Kondeva, there were peaks in the incidence of whooping cough every 3-5 years. The situation is constantly being monitored, and the increase in morbidity is not a surprise to experts, she pointed out.

In Bulgaria 314 cases of whooping cough have been registered so farcompared to 4 for the same period in 2023.

The organization was also discussed during the meeting in kindergartens and schools, where children with symptoms of whooping cough should not be admitted. The authorities call on parents to also be responsible and, at the slightest doubt, stop their children from attending educational institutions and seek medical help.

The Deputy Minister of Education Emilia Lazarova commented that the Ministry of Education and Culture closely monitors the situation and daily collects information on the number of quarantined classes from the Regional Directorates of Education.

The Ministry of Health is ready to respond to an increase in morbidity and if necessary, distance learning in an electronic environment will be introduced for individual classes.

Prime Minister Glavchev has been assured that the State Matriculation Examinations and the National External Assessment will be conducted normally and no children will be harmed.

The Acting Prime Minister stated that he is satisfied with the measures taken and believes that the institutions are prepared. “We can reassure the public, we are ready to deal with it,” concluded Glavchev.

Data on the spread of the pertussis infection in our country and information regarding the two babies who died of the disease in Kyustendil will also be presented to the Parliamentary Committee on Health Care. At an extraordinary meeting, the deputies will listen to the responsible minister, the chief state health inspector, the directors of the Medical Supervision Agency and the National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases.

So far, the most people infected with whooping cough are in Sofia, Stara Zagora, Kyustendil, Varna and Burgas. The Ministry of Health last week sent instructions to GPs to track which of those subject to pertussis immunization are not covered and to carry out such vaccination.