Whooping cough vaccine today - Y/N?

[PurpleMoon12]

Hi!

I'm booked in for my whooping cough vaccine today, and yet I'm being told horror stories from older family members and colleagues about the possible effects on baby - epilepsy etc!

Is everyone getting/had the vaccine, or is anyone against?

Looking for some quick last minute advice really, and just want to do the right thing

I had the vaccine both times without hesitation and without any issues. Had a colleague who got whooping cough and it did not look like a whole lot of fun. Certainly wouldn’t want baby to catch it.

My mum is mid-fifties. When she was a baby she whooped when she coughed once, she was taken straight to the doctor. My grandma said that one cough scared the shit out of her and she never forgot that sound. Or the fear.

Whopping cough vaccine has been administered for many years safely and greatly reduces the chances of respiratory illnesses in your baby. FWIW, I had whopping cough, flu and covid vaccines during pregnancy. The whopping cough one I had no ill-effects, not even a sore arm. Baby is perfectly fine.

Please get the vaccine. I got whooping cough a few years ago as a healthy 29 year old and I have never been that ill ever. I was off work for months, most of it spent in bed because I was too tired to do anything. Struggling to breath was awful and scary, gasping for breathe feeling like you’re not getting enough air and I was in a lot of pain from the constant coughing. I can’t even imagine (and don’t want to) what it would be like for a baby or child.
I had my whooping cough vaccine back in second trimester and apart from a sore arm, I was absolutely fine.

Absolutely everything @AmbushedByCake has said.

I do absolutely despair at the apparent resurgence of anti-vaccine opinions amongst otherwise normally reasonable people at the moment - feels like being back in the 90s and early 00s in the Andrew (f*cking) Wakefield era, except worse because of social media.

Please, please consider your sources of information carefully.

Thank you everyone! This has been really helpful.

I'm glad everyone is on the same page as I originally was, and the information from the older people in my life just seems to be coming from issues years ago.

I'm off for my vaccine now and hoping that I'll just have a sore arm!

@Phrenologistsfinger

Please do get it! My mum did not and I had whooping cough as a baby. It damaged my lungs so that every cold or sniffle I have (and I am a magnet for them) turns into a 2+ week chest infection, bronchitis and sometimes pneumonia. Hacking coughs like an old man with lung cancer, it is deeply unpleasant (I have one now). I spent a lot of time laid up ill as a child. It has really impacted on my adult life, career etc. I have never been able to do much sport or exercise because my lungs can’t handle it. I always have sick days. I so wish my mum had taken the vaccine.

Please don't blame your mum the vaccine has only been given to pregnant women in the last 10 years. My oldest is 11 and I wasn't offered it but I got it with my 5 yo

@Lockdownbear this was in the 80s (I’m 40!) so don’t worry. She didn’t give me any vaccinations at all because she was not fully scientifically literate (and still distrusts western medicine, which is difficult as she gets elderly). I only got vaccinated aged 36 when starting to ttc. My mum and has had all her covid vaccines thankfully (me too)!

But my lungs were irrevocably damaged and, whilst she thought she was doing the right thing, I wish she had vaccinated me - I can’t lie.

I had whooping cough about three years ago and it was absolutely awful.

Speak to your vaccinator who will tell you what's what, but it's definitely not something you or your baby want, it's dreadful, it's known as the hundred day cough and in my case it was, and it's actually really scary.

Oops sorry just noticed that you've already gone 🥴 Good for you, it's definitely the right decision! 👏

@UnmentionedElephantDildo

I nite you said older relatives.

There was a problem with the 'whole cell' vaccine that was in use back in the 1970s.

The jab has since been re-formulated and is now acellular.

Do not let outdated information out you off a jab that is important in protecting your baby. As recently as 2012, 14 babies in Britain died of whooping cough when still too young to have received the vaccine themselves. Transfer of maternal antibodies during pregnancy is the way to offer any protection.

This ^

The “old” pertussis vaccine was very different to the one used now. It didn’t cause brain damage or epilepsy but was much more reactogenic.

For info, there have been no neonatal pertussis deaths in babies who’s mothers were vaccinated since the programme began in ?2012.

It's of enormous benefit to your baby as it will protect them until they can have the jab for themselves.

As a bonus it's also a tetanus booster for you meaning you are protected against tetanus for the next 10 years. And once you've had 5 tetanus jabs in total in your life (you likely had two as a newborn and one as a teenager) you are likely to be immune for life.

Definitely get the vaccine, there was an outbreak in 2012 when I was pregnant but I'd missed the window to have it. I was worried then about my baby getting it. Look at horror stories of babies getting whooping cough that will help you decide

I have had whooping cough and all I can say is get the vaccine, it’s a really awful illness I wouldn’t wish on anyone. It’s the worst illness I’ve ever had.

The whooping cough vaccine does not cause any of these things.

Whooping cough can kill your baby if it contacts it in first few months.

No contest. Get the vaccine.