Pregnant women urged to get whooping cough vaccine

Sunday 11 September 2016

Doctors are urging pregnant women to get what they've described as a "life or death" vaccine after their 20 week scan to help protect their unborn babies from whooping cough.

They say there's been an increase in cases in the UK and more babies have been dying from the infection, and it's likely to be circulating here in the Island too.

Health’s Head of Preventive Programmes Dr Linda Diggle is leading the vaccination programme.

She said: “Many people may have thought that whooping cough had disappeared, but in 2012 it increased substantially in the UK with Public Health England declaring a national outbreak and recommending pregnant women get vaccinated in order to protect their baby.

“Since October 2012 in England, of 16 babies aged under 3 months who have died of whooping cough, 14 were born to mothers who had not been immunised during pregnancy. Between January and March 2016, the number of confirmed whooping cough cases in England amongst babies under 3 months of age was double that for the same period in 2015.

“There is no herd immunity to whooping cough in the general population so we must assume whooping cough will be circulating in Jersey, as it is the UK, and that every newborn baby could be at risk from this disease.”

Health say the vaccine is safe and ensures that mums-to-be pass protective antibodies on to their unborn babies, antibodies that help protect them during their first few months and until they have finished their own vaccination course at four months.

They are urging pregnant women to get the vaccine from their GP between the 20th and 32nd week of pregnancy.

Dr Mark Wilbourn of the Island Medical Centre said: “As GPs, we can’t stress enough the importance of the whooping cough vaccine for mothers-to-be during each and every pregnancy. It’s just one injection in the arm, but it could make a life or death difference for a young baby."