Pregnant women get whooping cough vaccine for cough during pregnancy and their unborn child between sixteen to thirty-two weeks. Read more at Meri Sehat.

Do Pregnant Women Need Booster Doses for Whooping Cough?

Do Pregnant Women Need Booster Doses For Whooping Cough?

Introduction

Young babies with whooping cough often suffer from severe symptoms and are admitted to the hospital for their illness. The severity of whooping cough can also lead to death.

Pregnant women can protect their babies from <a href="https://www.merisehat.pk/disease/whopping-cough">whooping cough</a> by getting vaccinated between sixteen to thirty-two weeks. However, if they miss getting the vaccine during their pregnancy, they can still get it till they go into labour.

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Understanding The Need For Pertussis Vaccination In Pregnancy

Whooping cough (pertussis) is a serious infection where the patient coughs and chokes, which makes it difficult to breathe. The cause of the whoop is gasping for breath after each bout of coughing. However, babies don&rsquo;t always make this noise.

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Getting vaccinated during pregnancy can protect your baby from developing whooping cough in the first few weeks after birth<a href="#accordion">[1]</a>. The immunity from the vaccine will pass to the baby through the placenta and provide protection till they are old enough for routine vaccines against whooping cough.

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Women are usually concerned about whether the vaccine is safe to get during pregnancy. However, there is no evidence that suggests that the whooping cough vaccine is unsafe for pregnant women and their unborn children.

The whooping cough vaccine (pertussis-containing vaccine) is used routinely in pregnant women in the UK, since October 2012. Moreover, the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) monitors it for safety. The MHRA study has found no risk, or evidence of risks, in pregnant women and their babies<a href="#accordion">[3]</a>.&nbsp;

69% of women have gotten the vaccine to date and so far, no safety concerns have been identified in the mother or baby<a href="#accordion">[4]</a>.

Other countries are also currently recommending vaccination against whooping cough.

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The best time to get vaccinated is between sixteen to thirty-two weeks of pregnancy to protect your baby from whooping cough<a href="#accordion">[2]</a>. This increases the chances of your baby being protected from birth because the antibodies are transferred when they are born.

However, if you miss the vaccine due to any reason, you can get it before labor. But the chances of your baby getting the protection are highly unlikely. However, it will protect the mother from getting whooping cough and passing it to their baby after birth.

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UK vaccination program says that it is highly effective for women to get vaccinated against whooping cough because it protects their young babies till they can get their first vaccination at the age of eight weeks.

Babies of women who had been vaccinated at least a week before giving birth had a 91% reduced risk of getting ill with whooping cough in their first few weeks post-birth<a href="#accordion">[5]</a>. This comparison was done between babies whose mothers had been vaccinated and those who had not been vaccinated.

In addition, another benefit of getting vaccinated is that the mothers receive protection from the vaccination, which lowers the risk of infection and passing whooping cough to the baby.&nbsp;

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There isn&rsquo;t a single whooping cough vaccine. The vaccine is a combination, which protects against polio, tetanus, and diphtheria. It is called the Boostrix IPV. The Boostrix IPV vaccine is like the 4-in-1 vaccine. It is a pre-school booster that is given in routine to children before they start school.

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The side effects are mild, which include, swelling, tenderness, swelling, or redness at the site of the vaccination (arm), just like any other vaccine. However, the side effects last for a few days only. Other side effects of the vaccine include fever, irritation, and swelling of the vaccinated arm. Loss of appetite, irritability, and headache are also seen. Although, severe side effects are extremely rare.

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Conclusion

Whooping cough is very infectious and can cause pneumonia and brain damage, especially in young babies. Most of the babies require hospitalization for the treatment of whooping cough. Moreover, if the case is very severe, they may die.

The cases of whooping cough have fallen since 2012 in England among all age groups<a href="#accordion">[6]</a>. The largest fall has been seen in young babies targeted by the pregnancy vaccination program.

However, the cases of whooping cough are high in adults, compared to the pre-2012 levels. The number of cases was high in 2016, with an increase in three to four yearly peaks in the rates of diseases<a href="#accordion">[7]</a>.

Older adults with whooping cough can infect babies; hence, it is necessary that pregnant women get vaccinated and protect their babies.

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Key Points

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<ul>
	<li>Pregnant women can be vaccinated with the DTaP(-IPV) booster to protect their babies from whooping cough till the age of six months.</li>
	<li>Moreover, maternal antibodies are passed to the baby through the placenta.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Mothers should consult their physicians and discuss getting vaccinated for pertussis during their pregnancy.</li>
</ul>

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[1] Switzer, C., D’Heilly, C. and Macina, D., 2019. Immunological and clinical benefits of maternal immunization against pertussis: a systematic review. Infectious Diseases and Therapy, 8(4), pp.499-541.

[2] Murthy, S., Godinho, M.A., Lakiang, T., Lewis, M.G.G., Lewis, L. and Nair, N.S., 2018. Efficacy and safety of pertussis vaccination in pregnancy to prevent whooping cough in early infancy. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2018(4).

[3] Donegan, K., King, B. and Bryan, P., 2014. Safety of pertussis vaccination in pregnant women in UK: observational study. Bmj, 349.

[4] D’Heilly, C., Switzer, C. and Macina, D., 2019. Safety of maternal immunization against pertussis: a systematic review. Infectious Diseases and Therapy, 8(4), pp.543-568.

[5] Healy, C.M., 2016. Pertussis vaccination in pregnancy. Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, 12(8), pp.1972-1981.

[6] Haslam, N., Hoang, U. and Goldacre, M.J., 2014. Trends in hospital admission rates for whooping cough in England across five decades: database studies. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 107(4), pp.157-162.

[7] Esposito, S., Stefanelli, P., Fry, N.K., Fedele, G., He, Q., Paterson, P., Tan, T., Knuf, M., Rodrigo, C., Weil Olivier, C. and Flanagan, K.L., 2019. Pertussis prevention: reasons for resurgence, and differences in the current acellular pertussis vaccines. Frontiers in Immunology, 10, p.1344.

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