Katrina Nordyke on Whooping Cough Outbreak and Vaccines

Frederica Freyberg:
The Green Bay area is seeing a whooping cough outbreak with the county health department investigating more than 65 cases of the bacterial disease pertussis since the beginning of April. It can be especially dangerous in infants. Vaccines for pertussis are part of the regular schedule for children with boosters for adults, but rates for required vaccinations have been dropping. State data shows in the last school year, 10% of school students were not meeting requirements. Joining us with more is Katrina Nordyke, Brown County deputy public health officer. Thanks very much for being here.

Katrina Nordyke:
Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:
What kind of an increase in cases in Brown County is this of pertussis compared to normal years?

Katrina Nordyke:
Well, for example, here in Brown County, we have 13 confirmed cases, mostly situated in the month of April. And for last year, we had one for the entire year. So we did see an outbreak this season. As you mentioned, we have investigated over 65 cases. So that means that we reach out to those with suspected cases and do contact tracing, contact investigation, some education, but then also work with confirmed cases and, for example, institutions to provide education on what to expect and how to encourage people to seek treatment or stay home if they’re feeling ill.

Frederica Freyberg:
Because how dangerous is whooping cough, especially for babies?

Katrina Nordyke:
Well, whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is caused by bacteria. It’s very contagious. It’s spread through the air when a person with whooping cough coughs, sneezes, talks, sings. It’s especially dangerous for infants as they have underdeveloped airways, potentially haven’t been vaccinated, and about a third to a half of those infants can be hospitalized due to complications from the pertussis. We also see dangers when you are looking at people who have immunocompromised or pregnant persons.

Frederica Freyberg:
As we’ve discussed, vaccinations for whooping cough are required, starting in infancy with boosters even for adults. What are you seeing in terms of a drop-off in people getting these required vaccinations?

Katrina Nordyke:
What we have seen a slight decrease statewide in vaccine completion and uptake anywhere from around 2% to 5%. Here in Brown County, we are meeting our general benchmarks and also have been across the state strategizing around how to catch people up. So people may have fell behind in their vaccination during COVID and so we are strategically planning how to catch people up. We have targeted vaccination clinics, education and promotion, and we’re working with community partners to also have vaccination clinics out in the population.

Frederica Freyberg:
Is there any sense that lower rates of vaccinations follow critical messaging around the COVID vaccine in recent years?

Katrina Nordyke:
Well, we have to wonder how much of that small decline in uptake is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people not being able to go in to their providers, people falling behind on just general appointments, and also maybe some questions remaining about the actual COVID-19 vaccination, but we encourage people, please reach out to your medical provider and ask any questions you have. You can ask them where your vaccination status is at for you or your loved ones. You can also check on-line on the Wisconsin Immunization Registry to see what vaccines you have and talk to your provider about vaccines you may need.

Frederica Freyberg:
Meanwhile, there are new child vaccine requirements from the state Department of Health for meningitis and chickenpox. Do you expect that to be controversial in any way?

Katrina Nordyke:
Those recommendations actually aren’t new. They were presented last year by the CDC. They were suspended until recently. And those recommendations are for children entering childcare. They’re required to demonstrate that they have had the chickenpox by a clinical provider. So it used to be that parents could testify that their child had actually had chickenpox and now the requirements for childcare is that clinical provider needs to include that in their statement. But then when you’re talking about the new school requirements for meningococcal, those require that students entering the seventh grade receive that vaccination and then again, another booster when they’re entering the 12th year. So CDC has recommended those. DHS reviewed those and implemented those into the requirements for school.

Frederica Freyberg:
So what are other disease outbreaks of concern in unvaccinated or undervaccinated populations right now?

Katrina Nordyke:
Well, we have recently heard about some measles concerns and even some cases reported. Cases have been reported nationally and we did have one case reported in Wisconsin. What we know about measles is that it’s highly, highly contagious. It’s one of the most contagious diseases, and so therefore we’re very concerned about the spread. We also know that the vaccine is highly effective. So if you don’t have the measles vaccine, talk to your healthcare provider. If you think you may have symptoms of the measles, reach out to your healthcare provider immediately and if you think you’ve been in contact potentially with somebody with measles, you can contact your healthcare provider and they can provide recommendations on next steps for you.

Frederica Freyberg:
Katrina Nordyke, thank you for your work running all this down and providing the public with the information and education.

Katrina Nordyke:
Thank you.