Since the start of the year, Kazakhstan has registered 250 cases of whooping cough, with over 90% of those affected being children under five who had not undergone routine immunization, reports infohub.kz.
According to the Ministry of Health, the incidence of whooping cough in the republic has decreased by 10% since the beginning of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. The ministry attributes this to routine and additional vaccination of children.
Among the 250 cases recorded since the start of the year, 91% were children who had not been routinely vaccinated. In total, over 360,000 children have received the whooping cough vaccine this year. Specifically, 102,000 were vaccinated before 12 months of age, over 91,000 at one year old, and more than 167,000 at six years old.
According to the Ministry of Health, no adverse reactions to the vaccine have been reported. In parallel, vaccination is being carried out for those who missed their scheduled shots: during the same period, 107,500 children and adolescents under 18 have been vaccinated.
The ministry reminded that vaccination against whooping cough is the only effective way to prevent the disease and protect children from severe illness.
It is worth recalling that in the autumn of 2023, there was a sharp outbreak of measles in the republic. At that time, the Ministry of Health reported that 70% of affected children were unvaccinated. In 2024, the head of the ministry, Akmaral Alnazarova, reported the first fatal case of whooping cough in a child, registered in March in the Karaganda region.