There are many changes in the body during pregnancy, and vaccination is necessary to protect the body from infectious diseases. Due to vaccination, the body of the mother and the unborn child make antibodies to fight against infections. However, during pregnancy, immunity decreases, and the mother and baby can get sick. The easy way to avoid this is by getting the necessary vaccines.
Whooping cough, or pertussis, is highly contagious respiratory infection caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. It spreads mainly through droplets released by infected persons when they cough or sneeze. Pertussis can be dangerous for infants younger than 1 year, leading to morbidity and mortality. Tdap (tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid, and acellular pertussis) vaccination during pregnancy is recommended to protect infants before they could be vaccinated. Infants younger than 2 months are known to be most vulnerable to the disease.
Emphasizing the importance of Tdap vaccination during pregnancy, a new CDC study has shown that it can protect newborns from Pertussis during their first two months of life. For the study, CDC scientists tracked reports of infant whooping cough cases for nine years (between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2019) in the US. They found Tdap vaccination during pregnancy associated with reduced rates of pertussis incidence among US infants younger than 2 months.
More than 57,000 pertussis cases were reported in infants younger than 1 year between 2000 and 2019, out of which 19 322 cases (33.6 per cent) occurred among infants younger than 2 months.
The US launched Tdap vaccination during pregnancy in 2011. The CDC recommends Tdap vaccination during weeks 27 36 of each pregnancy.
Dr. Jos R. Romero, Director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said that getting Tdap vaccination during pregnancy is the best way to protect infants before they are old enough to receive their whooping cough vaccines.
Dr. Linda Eckert, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' liaison to CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, noted that Tdap vaccination during pregnancy protects nine in 10 babies from being hospitalized with whooping cough.
The CDC strongly recommends all pregnant women to get Tdap vaccines during the third trimester of each pregnancy to boost their antibodies and pass those antibodies on to their infants. The agency also suggests that all people in close contact with infants to stay up to date with their whooping cough vaccines.
