Whooping cough vaccine

[firsttimemumchar]

Hi,
this is my first pregnancy and not once has my midwife mentioned the whooping cough vaccine to me.
I only know about it from when I was at the hospital and they gave me a leaflet. So I made an appointment for next week but I’ll be 37 weeks.
im now quite anxious at the fact I’ve not had it… as it says 16-32 weeks.
is it still worth me having this vaccine at such a late stage? Thankyou x

Ask.
There may be some point to you and anyone who lives with you or will be around the baby a lot having it even soon after the birth - if you’re vaccinated you’re less likely to pass the virus on to your baby. Where I live they recommend new dads get a booster too for this reason. It’s good to get the vaccine during pregnancy because you can then pass some immunity to your unborn child. But don’t worry, they’ll be a protocol to follow for cases like yours where it’s been forgotten.

They say it is still worth it but just may be less effective. It's certainly better than nothing as there's still a good chance you will pass some immunity along to your baby. There are some bits and bobs you can read online for further info.

Lots of NHS trust pages and the gov page confirm about it being better to have earlier as more effective but still worth getting later. And this research article explains in more depth where this sort of advice might have come from:

www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(22)00332-9/fulltext

But bottom line, yes get it asap. And complain that is hasn't been mentioned to you earlier also!

But also don't worry or panic! Its not a massive risk or anything

I’d ask your midwife or the nurse at GP, but it won’t be harmful, possibly just less effective but still worth getting it