The High Authority for Health recommends vaccinating pregnant women against whooping cough from the second trimester of pregnancy, preferably between the 20th and 36th week of amenorrhea. What if the vaccination could not be carried out during this period? Here are the recommendations to protect newborns.
What are the risks of whooping cough in newborns?
The whooping cough is a highly contagious infectious respiratory disease responsible for exhausting and repeated coughing spells for several weeks, which can also cause vomiting. If it is rather benign in adults, whooping cough is particularly dangerous in fragile people as well as newborns. In effect, “more than 90% of pertussis deaths occur in newborns and children under six months of age. Between 2013 and 2021, 993 cases of pertussis required hospitalization in children under 12 months, including 604 in children under three months“specifies the HAS in a press release of April 12, 2022.
At what month of pregnancy should you be vaccinated against whooping cough?
Also, to protect babies from birth, the Haute Autorité de Santé recommends that future mothers be vaccinated from the second trimester of pregnancy, preferably between the 20th and 36th weeks of amenorrhea (absence of menstruation). And for good reason: infants only get vaccinated at the age of two months, and protection remains partial up to three months, “which leaves a window of possible contamination during the first weeks of the child’s life. “, explains the HAS, which will integrate this new recommendation into the 2022 vaccination schedule. By being vaccinated pregnant, the newborn is thus protected thanks to the transplacental passage of the mother’s antipertussis antibodies.
Should I be vaccinated with every pregnancy?
Yes, this is what the HAS recommends. Indeed, if the mother was vaccinated before pregnancy, the concentration of maternal antibodies is insufficient to ensure passive protection of infants.
What to do if the pregnant woman was not vaccinated during pregnancy?
If the mother was not vaccinated during her pregnancy, and at least one month before delivery, it is recommended to keep the “cocooning strategy”:
- The young mother is vaccinated immediately after the birth of the baby, before leaving the maternity ward, even if she is breastfeeding her baby.
- Vaccination of the entourage of the newborn is also encouraged at birth or before.
- Who is concerned ? Parents, siblings, grandparents and all other people likely to be in close and lasting contact with the infant during the first six months of life.
Is vaccination safe for pregnant women?
“The real-life data collected for more than 10 years abroad establish a good effectiveness of the vaccination of pregnant women to protect infants under the age of three months” reassures the High Authority of Health. A good way, above all, to reduce the risk of hospitalization in babies under 2 months, and to reduce the risk of mortality in children under three months. And according to the various studies, the whooping cough vaccine is well tolerated in pregnant women, with no increased risk of adverse events in the mother-to-be, the fetus or the newborn.