The chief medical officer of health says the province has plenty of pertussis vaccine on hand to cover adults who have not had a booster in more ten years.

People 25 and older who have not had a booster in the last decade are being encouraged to do so after the province declared a whooping cough outbreak last week.

Whooping cough is a serious illness that results in persistent coughing, making it harder for the person affected to catch their breath. The most vulnerable are small children, particularly infants.

Numbers released on Thursday show 50 confirmed cases of the highly-contagious bacterial illness in Newfoundland and Labrador, most of them on the Avalon Peninsula.

On the weekend, NL Health Services opened up an appointment-only testing clinic on Mundy Pond Road to determine the extent of the spread of the illness and provide treatment with antibiotics for those who test positive.

Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says adults who have not had a booster in more than 10 years should contact their family doctor or local public health clinic to arrange for a shot.