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This thread includes replies from NHSVaccineNurses, in partnership with NHS

Original poster

To think it’s strange I need a vaccine to meet newborn abroad

59 replies

FlowerPowerM · 16/01/2026 11:26

Going to visit a relative in the US who has a newborn. We’ve all had a to have a vaccine before meeting them - and apparently that’s the standard there. I’ve never heard of this before and wondered are they just being over cautious? We don’t seem to have anything like that here. Are babies in the UK being less protected than in the US?
Just to clarify I’ve had the vaccine and it was tetanus, dyptheria, whooping cough and then we had to have the flu vaccine which we had had anyway.

PinkDaffodil2 · 16/01/2026 11:34

Which vaccine? May not be needed if you’re up to date? If whooping cough a pregnancy booster gives you 4-5 years immunity from memory.

StrawberrySquash · 16/01/2026 11:33

I have seen this as a thing online. I can see the logic of a baby is too small to have had certain vaccinations, so me being vaccinated will make me less likely to pass to them. But I suspect it's got wrapped up with vaccines as an identity politics thing (much worse there than here), anxious parenting and in laws who people don't get on with/trust in general. No one has ever asked me in the UK before I was allowed to meet their baby.

WhatNoRaisins · 16/01/2026 11:31

In the UK they give pregnant women this booster at a certain point.

Sorry posted too soon

I think that is supposed to pass antibodies to the baby after it's born until they can be vaccinated and make their own.

Original poster
FlowerPowerM · 16/01/2026 11:30

Yes also we had to pay £60 each for it.

OP posts:
ShetlandishMum · 16/01/2026 11:30

Which one?

Who ask for it?

Original poster
FlowerPowerM · 16/01/2026 11:30

No it’s not to do with the visa, it’s at the request of the parents. I had a baby not that long ago but no one ever mentioned vaccines for visitors. I never would have thought of it. I guess I would have been covered for the whooping cough from pregnancy. Yes triple vaccine all together.

OP posts:
MermaidMummy06 · 16/01/2026 11:29

In Australia it's common to have the whooping cough vaccine if you haven't had a booster. Babies are extremely vulnerable.

I was furious when I discovered my DP's had lied about having it when DS was born. There was an epidemic, but they didn't get it because they had to pay. Just lucky my DS didn't pay!!

They were the first to push the free covid vaccine though!

W0tnow · 16/01/2026 11:27

I think it’s sensible to have whooping cough vaccine when meeting a newborn these days. I would probably request it for close family if I was having a baby. It’s a triple vaccine, right? Hence the inclusion of tetanus and diphtheria?

Needmorelego · 16/01/2026 11:27

Was it actually that you needed it to qualify for the visa - not meet the baby?

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