A paediatrician fears New Zealand is at the beginning of a whooping cough epidemic.
Newshub understands the two people who've died of whooping cough this year were babies aged just 5 and 7 weeks - both Maori.
For paediatrician Dr Owen Sinclair whooping cough is the scariest disease he's seen in West Auckland ED.
The image of children turning blue and unable to breathe is seared into his memory.
"We put oxygen on their face, and we sit them up and we put their arms above their heads - and hope that they breathe again," said Sinclair.
"Horrifying."
Whooping cough is most dangerous for infants. The two babies who've died of the disease in the North Island this year were just 5 and 7 weeks old - and Te Whatu Ora has confirmed three more cases.
"It would be extremely reasonable to expect that this would be the start of another epidemic, and will build up in numbers from now over the next 18 months," Sinclair said.
The reason such young babies are vulnerable is they can't be vaccinated until they're 6 weeks old.
So, Te Whatu Ora is urging pregnant women to be immunised - it's free, and passes on protection.
Mother Hannah Chisholm has done both for her baby, Eliana. But says it was tough. Her busy GP wouldn't let her book in more than a few days out.
"That's super stressful coz then you have to find time in the day to call back… oo, I'm just going to move her.. yep yep," Chisholm said.
Working parents know it's hard to find 5 minutes to do anything, let alone if you have to keep calling.
And vaccination rates are the lowest they've been since they were introduced - just 45 percent for Maori and 63 percent overall.
"It is a sign that the system is failing," Sinclair said.
"I just wanna scream because the more people this happens to and the more people that are deterred the less coverage we have," Chisholm said.
"It's not working!"
Three have died of whooping cough this decade, prior to the babies' deaths this year.
