Protecting newborns from Whooping cough

The Global Pertussis Initiative (GPI) has recommended that the most effective way of protecting infants from Pertussis (Whooping cough) is by vaccinating women during their pregnancies.  Where this isn’t possible they suggest that the next most effective means of protection is “cocooning” them. i.e. vaccinating immediate family members, caregivers and other people who regularly come in close contact with them.

Dr. Kevin Forsyth, lead author of the guidelines and professor of paediatrics at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, said: “The best thing parents can do is have the mother immunized during pregnancy, which boosts her immunity and transfers protection to the baby.”

Dr. Bonnie Maldonado, chief of the division of infectious diseases in the paediatrics department at Stanford University School of Medicine said: “Pertussis can affect anybody at any age, but the risk is highest for severe symptoms and complications for young babies because of their small airways….If you look at mothers’ antibodies after vaccination they are pretty high for the first nine months, then within two years the antibody levels have dropped very low.  That’s why the mother needs a dose for every pregnancy.”

Read the GPI statement here

And for more information see here