The Situation in Washington

The video above is a report by the PBS News Hour about the recent whooping cough outbreak in the state of Washington. The video is almost nine minutes long, but I think it is worth it to watch the whole video because the report does an excellent job of examining all angles of the outbreak, from the anguish of losing a child to the concerns of parents for the future health of their children. 

Continuing on the topic of whooping cough, the following PSA video from this initiative does a great job of honing in on the critical message that parents need to hear about whooping cough. Jennifer Lopez is by no means an expert about vaccine-preventable diseases, but she presents the message in a genuine, conversational way that I think is very effective in reaching parents. Not only does the video address the key points about whooping cough (infants are most vulnerable, infants need 3-4 doses of the vaccine to be protected, a severe cough persists when children have the disease), the video directly addresses the fact that adults without proper booster vaccines are typically responsible for the spread of this deadly illness. This video has all the important information, in addition to being concise and compelling!