Whooping cough vaccine and some threads on internet about stillbirth as a result

[Happychick35]

I know this topic has been raised quite a few times by now, but I wanted to ask did you do it? I pushed doing it as far as possible in my pregnancy, but now I have to make a decision and I do think the information about vaccine is not complete. Please don't get an impression I am against vaccination, I definitely think that is something what has to be done and thought of my LO getting a WC horrifies me. However NHS says on their website that vaccine is routinely done in France and Germany and since I am lucky enough to have friends in both I checked. In France I even spoke with GP who showed official French guidelines stating that as vaccine was not tested on pregnant women it is not generally recommended to do it during pregnancy. Their suggestion is for women to do it after birth and have the infant family vaccinated. In Germany it is not routinely offered to pregnant women either. So there seems to be the trend in US and UK only and vaccine used in US is different to UK. And now there are a few reports in US which question the efficiency of this approach. There are a few threads on the internet where women report reduced fetal movements after vaccine and even stillbirth incidents. It is hard to prove that it is something related, but such incidents should not be dismissed either. Also when I ask midwifes question would you do it if you were pregnant , I get quite mixed responses, some say yes, but some say actually I might give it a bit of time to see how everybody else is getting on. All my pregnant friends did it and seems to be fine. But there is a thought on the back of my mind if something happens to my pregnancy due to vaccine I will never forgive myself. I do not have much faith in UK health system as I have been let down quite a few times struggling with endometriosis and infertility and I can positively say I am pregnant more despite healthcare system rather than due to it. Just a few thoughts...

Ps I think wc vaccine wears off after 7 years or there about. That might just be the primary childhood course though, not sure about adult boosters

I had mine booked for 32 weeks then caught several continuous bugs, ended up having baby at 37 weeks with a nasty cold and cough on board so did not have the WC jab.

I am very much aware that I have left my baby exposed, the paranoia is terrible and I have had to step away from google. IMO I have taken a huge gamble and the risk is not worth it. My little bundle is too special!

If you are so worried, have the vaccine now and pass the antibodies to your baby with your breastmilk.

Breastfeeding doesn't offer enough protection.

And we know this because extensive studies have been done on vaccinating new mums against WC?

The breastfeeding advice is based on scientific findings and unfortunately doesn't protect the baby anywhere near the same way as pregnancy vaccine. More infor in breastfeeding network website.

My friend's baby girl died of wc - she was born perfect and healthy, caught it before her jabs and despite being rushed to hospital, she progressed to pneumonia and then her desperate parents had to watch by the nicu crib while she died of multiple organ failure.

I got the shot. And so did my husband (even though he'd had it years ago, the effect had worn off, apparently), our parents and anyone else who wanted to come near our PFB for long...

Gosh, I did not expect such a big response, thank you very much everyone. These are hard decisions , what bothers me most is lack of any data which prove efficiency of vaccine for newborn, this has not been completely confirmed and safety in pregnancy. They only say that there was increased number of antibodies in umbilical cord and there is a question whether they do indeed pass to the baby. And in California where there is an epidemic of WC and vaccination compaign they did not notice significant reduction of numbers of incidents, hence questions about vaccine effieciency now as well as whether it decrease effect of vaccine at 8 weeks.

I've just booked my jab. Putting aside what I already said, I currently have a bad cold and feel horrendous enough! Given that WC has been in my area I don't want to feel any worse than this! I've already coughed myself into pieces!

I had my booster two years ago after DS1, but have chosen not to do it during this pregnancy as I'm dealing with other health issues. But I believe the booster from two years ago should still be effective. Or does anyone know if WC booster ought to be annual?

Happychick the important thing to remember is that NOTHING drug or vaccine-wise had been confirmed safe for pregnant women, as it would be completely unethical to run full-scale medical trials on pregnant women (not to mention the fact that you'd struggle to find volunteers!). So any judgements about what is and isn't safe have to be based on very limited data sets.

Stopgap, you need a jab at the right point in each and every pregnancy to maximise antibody transfer through the placenta at the right time.