Whooping Cough Videos

Whooping Cough Videos

Watch videos of young babies affected by whooping cough. They show just how severe the disease can be.

Infant girl with whooping cough

Mayo Clinic (USA) video. A mother holds her infant girl in an intensive care unit. Her baby has whooping cough and is coughing severely.

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Warning to viewers: some of the content in these videos may be upsetting.

Babies are particularly vulnerable to whooping cough until they have received all 3 immunisations at 6 weeks, 3 months and 5 months old. So it's important to immunise on time, every time, and for people who are ill to stay away from babies until they are fully immunised.

Whooping cough - a baby in Starship's Intensive Care

A doctor at Starship Children's Health talks about a baby with whooping cough in Starship's Intensive Care Unit. At the time of filming, the baby was 8 weeks old and had been seriously ill in hospital for about 6 weeks. See the transcript.

Whooping cough - a mother's story

Mackenzie was just 7 weeks old when she became ill with whooping cough, early in 2012. She was admitted to hospital where she spent 10 days in isolation. Mackenzie's Mum, Anna Gibson, says they are pretty sure Mackenzie's Dad gave her whooping cough but it was too late by the time they realised he had it. Mackenzie has fully recovered now but Anna wants to tell her story so that other parents don't have to go through the same experience. See the transcript.

Health professionals talking about how severe whooping cough can be

Filmed in 2012 during a whooping cough epidemic, the video features health professionals talking about how severe whooping cough can be, particularly in young babies, and the importance of immunisation to protect them. See the transcript.

Acknowledgements

Whooping cough and A baby in Starship's Intensive Care are joint KidsHealth and Immunisation Advisory Centre productions. Our grateful thanks to the families of the babies in these videos for providing home footage or consenting to filming. Our thanks also to the health professionals for their interviews. 

Whooping cough - a mother's story is a joint KidsHealth, Immunisation Advisory Centre and Ministry of Health production. Our grateful thanks to Anna Gibson for sharing Mackenzie's story.

This page last reviewed 21 June 2022.

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