Inspiration for the Month

New Mokopuna in the whanau?

Congratulations on a new addition to your family ...would you like to do something to make a lasting difference to their health and wellbeing?

These precious new born babes are too young to be immunised but you can “cocoon” them by getting your personal protection up to date – contact your own GP and see if you need to update your Pertussis protection because every body’s immunity to this disease wanes over time.

Pertussis or whooping cough disease as it is known is unfortunately still around in our communities. Dr Cameron Grant, a leading Auckland paediatrician says “Babies are the group most at risk and until they are fully immunised, adults pose the biggest risk to them. About 70% of babies catch the infection from parents or other close family members. As well as being potentially lethal, whooping cough is highly contagious and each infected person will pass the disease onto 12 to 15 others.”

If you are thinking of going along to the six week immunisation event to offer support to carer and infant how about purchasing some extra protection and ask the provider about Rotavirus vaccination – a 2 dose oral vaccine not on the schedule but available at a cost - which protects against Rotavirus gastroenteritis (a common cause of diarrhoeal illness and hospitalisation in infants).

And when you get to their first birthday what about purchasing the Chicken pox (varicella) vaccine to ensure they don’t catch that and all its complications?

These may not sound like the usual gifts but they are significant investments in health and a way of showing you care.