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Original poster

Whooping cough jab - straw poll...

55 replies

CheeseAndMushroomToastie · 12/02/2013 12:25

Did you have it or not?

Why?

Thanks.....

OP posts:
TwitchyTail · 12/02/2013 12:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

rainand · 12/02/2013 12:39

I haven't had mine, I'm still unsure.

I would really like to hear from the people that didn't have it. How did you come to the decision not to have it?

ladymia · 12/02/2013 12:50

Yes

Benefit outweighed the risks

MiaowTheCat · 12/02/2013 12:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Paradisefound · 12/02/2013 13:14

Yes had mine at 30 weeks. Lots of whooping cough around at the moment. Don't want my baby getting it.

CityDweller · 12/02/2013 13:18

No. I read the committee report and asked my GP if they'd had any cases in my surgery (he said no) and I decided against. There's no evidence it actually protects the baby, the jab isn't just for whooping cough, it's not been given to pregnant women before, and there's a chance it make the jabs the baby does have (at 2 months onwards) less effective. I found it very hard to decide one way or another, but for me, the potential risks of the jab outweighed the risks of my baby getting whooping cough and I wasn't comfortable having a vaccine not tested on pregnant women. But I completely understand why people have it. If my GP had said there'd been even one or two cases of whooping cough at my surgery I probably would have had it.

Snowflakepie · 12/02/2013 13:21

I will be having it. There is very little risk to baby from the jab and lots of risk from whooping cough. People tend to forget how truly awful these illnesses are because they arise so rarely now. The jab has also been used routinely in other countries for years. This all reassured me.

Swine flu was all over the news when I was expecting DD. I really struggled with that decision as there seemed to be really conflicting information out there. But in the end I had the jab and all was well, and seems to be the case for most people. This time I had the flu jab at 6 weeks when I first went to the gp. Baby seems fine at 22 weeks. Really, unless there was some compelling evidence against it I would have all the jabs going, and the same goes for all the children's jabs too x

peanutMD · 12/02/2013 13:26

I had it as I work in a daycare centre and come into contact with lots of babies and various illnesses so I didn't think it was worth the risk as I have seen the effects of whooping cough.

I did sway against it at first though until I had discussed it with my GP and MW and felt that I had enough information to make a proper decision.

TTCmay · 12/02/2013 13:30

I'm going to have it when I reach that stage. I have friends who are doctors who know all the risks/benefits and decided to have it themselves- that's enough for me!

lucybrad · 12/02/2013 13:44

Im going to have it. I expect if you asked the parents who lost there babies last year to it, before the jab was available, they would be saying the same. I know two people with confirmed whooping cough and one has been seriously ill for months. Someone has to have a special test to have it confirmed. I expect there is a lot of it about. I can show as relatively mild in adults, but can be devasting for babies.

Why risk it? When was the last time anyone heard of anyone dying from a jab?

ChairmanWow · 12/02/2013 13:47

Had it at 30 weeks. My sis in law and her baby (who thankfully had already had his first 2 sets of jabs) both had whooping cough last year. They were both hospitalised and she is still recovering 6 months on. It's a horrible illness.

I still think there's a residual paranoia (IMO unfounded, and I'd like to see the medical evidence to the contrary) from that charlatan Andrew Wakefield and the MMR scare - he is directly responsible for deaths and permanent impairment of children from measles. He should have been banged up.

Rant over!

VisualiseAHorse · 12/02/2013 13:49

I would have it. There has been a couple of cases near where I live (Aberdeenshire). Wouldn't want to risk it.

eragon · 12/02/2013 13:51

cousin brain damaged from whooping cough.

CuppaSarah · 12/02/2013 13:51

I decided to have it. I was dead set against it as I didn't want to be part of the first round of women getting it during pregnancy. But my midwife told me it's the exact same injection your baby gets at 2 months. If it's safe for a tiny 2 month old baby, I really don't see how it could be a problem during pregnancy. That said, it's still unnerving having a 'new' type of injection, but the advice changes all the time. Whats the right thing to do now will be the wrong thing in 5 years anyway.

Oodsigma · 12/02/2013 13:53

Yes , my mum had WH when I was due the jab so I was at risk anyway.

SeriousStuff · 12/02/2013 13:55

I'm going to have it - feel more comfortable doing it seeing I'm not getting it until 28 weeks. If it was in first trimester I might be a bit worried, but having said that, I had my flu jab at 5 weeks!

BonaDea · 12/02/2013 14:02

I had it at 30 weeks.

Babies have been dying for the last several months because of an upsurge in cases. They are not protected for the first 8 weeks of life if they come into contact. They have been giving the vaccine to pregnant women in the US for years and no ill side effects have been discovered.

I felt it was a no brainer.

Original poster
CheeseAndMushroomToastie · 12/02/2013 14:27

I was pregnant when the swine flu jabs came out last time. I didn't have the swine flu vaccination as I felt it was too new, untested and seemed to be a bit of scare mongering IMO.

I will probably have the whooping cough one though, it has been around longer as pp said its the same vaccination given to young babies so should be safe for pregnant women. The side effects should be well known, and as someone said, it is a horrid illness. Would be nasty if I caught it, but the thought of my newborn getting it is awful.

PP raised an interesting post though about asking her surgery if they had had any confirmed cases of WC. That would be interesting to know for my locality too.

OP posts:
Dogsmom · 12/02/2013 14:50

I had it, my MW said it's the same jab that they give to the babies and is fine so I trusted her advice.

I had whooping cough as a baby and although I can't remember it I've been told how seriously ill it made me.

adagio · 12/02/2013 14:54

I had the jab last year at about 32 weeks, went full term and baby seems fine (so far!).
Google informed me that whooping cough can only be confirmed / verified if they do a test within a week-ish of contracting it while the bacteria which cause it are still detectable, so I suspect there may be a lot more of it around than has been 'confirmed'.

Anecdotal - My hubby got a really nasty cough when I was a few weeks pregnant, he gasped for breath at the start of each coughing fit?then I got the exact same cough 10 days later, which was strange as a smoker of um about 20 years normally I get phlegmy bronchial coughs but this was totally different (was trying to stop for pregnancy at the time)..I sent him to doctors after about 2 weeks and they said it was a virus so I didn't bother going?I sent him back a few weeks later they said it was a really nasty virus?then a few weeks later I sent him again, and they gave him tablets for acid reflux.

I went to doctors separately about my cough, pointed out hubby had it too, and was also independently given tablets for acid reflux - so two people in the same house who have never had digestive issues suddenly have a cough for many weeks and both have 'acid reflux'? In fairness, the tablets were awesome for heartburn later in pregnancy but still.

In Europe whooping cough is called the 100 day cough. We both shook our cough's about 4 months after first getting them. Oh and I think we gave it to a house guest too (as didn't know we were infectious). My guess is we had whooping cough, but remained un diagnosed, so be cautious at simply asking the docs for how many cases in an area.

Emsyboo · 12/02/2013 14:55

Had it at 28 weeks as soon as I could due to risk of prem baby.
It isn't a live vaccine but the booster jab they give pre schoolers it has tetanus and something else can't remember exactly.
The benefits outweighed the cons and at the very least you are protecting yourself when your immunity is down.
There have been cases of WC near me and 12 babies died not to mention ones with permanent lung damage etc.
Just didn't want to risk it.
Whooping cough used to get bad press as had mercury in it which caused fits but this was removed in the late 1980's

rosiedays · 12/02/2013 15:11

I'll be having it.
I still remember the sound of one of my sisters friend age 5(in 1985) coughing. it's one of the worst sounds i've ever heard.

Beatrixpotty · 12/02/2013 15:14

Had it.No brainier for me.Whopping cough can be fatal in neonates.Didn't want to take that risk.

FoofFighter · 12/02/2013 15:38

I will be having it when the time comes.

I remember a girl at school who had WC and it was so nasty, I cold have cried for her. She was left with hearing problems afterwards I recall? Although I was about 7 at the time so that might not be quite accurate there Blush

If it's safe for a baby at 8 weeks old then what harm could it do to a 28+ weeker is my view?

Also agree with PP about cases being confirmed, I would imagine that as in most things the confirmed numbers are the tip of the iceberg. Also agree with another PP about the MMR debacle.

purrpurr · 12/02/2013 15:49

Would anyone be able to answer a couple of questions?

Firstly, I thought I'd heard (only in the media, not exactly a reputable source, and this is why I'm not googling this) that the percentage of pregnant women having the vaccine had gone through the roof but the cases of whooping cough were rising regardless of this - and I think it was suggested that the vaccine in some way was no longer effective, that the virus/bacteria had developed to be resistant? Did I dream all this?

Secondly, folk are saying this vaccine has been in use in other countries for years. Is the vaccine we are being offered exactly the same vaccine? When I was researching the MMR jab, I found suggestions that several other countries had changed their own vaccines (the strain used in them) years before we did precisely because they found causal evidence of developmental issues, disorders etc. We were the last country to change the strain used in our jab, in a reluctant, dragging-of-heels British sort of way ('you say it causes what? Oh, for Pete's sake. Right, fine. What a waste of a good batch of medicine. Fine.')

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