New Whooping Cough Vaccine Expected To Be Approved Quickly

A new whooping cough shot, which has been shown to be safer and more effective than vaccine now given to American infants, will be approved swiftly, federal health officials said Thursday.

The new vaccine has proved up to 85 percent effective in tests on more than 25,000 children in Sweden and Italy. It also produces fewer and milder side effects than the whooping cough vaccine that is part of routine infant inoculations in the United States now.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the proven safety of the new type of vaccine should overcome the reluctance many parents feel toward the whooping cough vaccine that has been used in the United States for years.

“It is truly an effective vaccine,” Fauci said of the new type of inoculation.

Whooping cough, or pertussis, is a highly contagious respiratory disease that generally attacks children under the age of 5. It causes severe coughing, difficulty in breathing, vomiting and a rapid inhaling of air that can cause the “whooping” sound that gives the disease its common name.

Worldwide, it affects about 50 million annually and causes about 350,000 deaths.