Whooping Cough Social Media Toolkit
Cases of pertussis (whooping cough) are increasing across the UK and other parts of Europe. Public Health Scotland (PHS) is continuing to support health boards in Scotland to manage this situation. The latest case numbers are published every week.
Whooping cough is a highly contagious bacterial infection of the lungs and airways. It's spread in the droplets of the coughs or sneezes of someone with the infection. It can cause severe illness and death, particularly in young unimmunised children. Babies under one year old are most at risk.
Fortunately, there’s a vaccine that protects against whooping cough. The vaccine is offered to pregnant women (between 16 and 32 weeks). Babies are given three doses in total, at around 8, 12 and 16 weeks, and get a last dose at age 3 years and 4 months. The vaccine is around 90% effective in preventing hospital admissions in young babies. It’s also over 97% effective at preventing infant deaths.
To help raise awareness, Public Health Scotland has developed a social media toolkit with assets and suggested captions aimed at:
- pregnant women
- parents of young babies
- healthcare workers
We would appreciate you regularly feeding these social media assets into your planned activity using the hashtag #WhoopingCoughScot. Alt text is also available for each asset, as well as suggested content for newsletters and websites, which you can share with your networks or add to your platforms.
For more information visit www.nhsinform.scot/whoopingcough
Your support is much appreciated.