Children not vaccinated against whooping cough not to be excluded from classes

Children who have not been vaccinated against whooping cough will not be excluded from classes, the country's Chief Hygiene Officer Pavla Svrčinová said at a press briefing on Friday in response to confusion regarding how schools should respond to the outbreaks of whooping cough in some parts of the country. She said the interpretation of the Prague Hygiene Office, which informed schools in a letter that unvaccinated children should not be allowed to attend classes if the disease was confirmed in their class, was not accurate and no blanket measures were currently being considered. Decisions are reportedly being made on an individual basis. Although vaccination against whooping cough is compulsory in Czechia, the country is now registering the highest incidence of the disease since the 1960s.