Proof whooping cough vaccination during pregnancy saves lives

After four years and almost 280,000 births, a new study claims to have debunked persisting myths around whooping cough vaccines in pregnancy.
 
Published in Pediatrics, researchers found those vaccinated against pertussis during pregnancy had babies who are 70% less likely to have an infection in infancy, compared to the babies of unvaccinated mothers.
 
The Menzies School of Health Research examined four years of vaccination data for births across the Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia.
 
After comparing those results to population data, they found vaccinations between 20 and 32 weeks of pregnancy can help stop whooping cough infections in babies younger than six months.
 
The research comes amid concerns the infant vaccine schedule, starting at two months old, would not be as effective if the mother had been vaccinated during pregnancy, but no significant impact was uncovered.
 
While researchers observed a slightly lower vaccine effectiveness point for the third dose among maternally vaccinated compared with unvaccinated infants, they did not observe higher rates of pertussis infection.
 
RACGP Fellow and specialist women’s health GP Dr Frances Knight said the research is useful to GPs in helping patients make their own, informed decisions.
 
‘We can feel reassured that it’s a good thing to do at that time and overall will provide benefit for the babies who are not immunised until their third dose,’ she told newsGP.
 
‘I always provide an explanation of why we’re doing what we’re doing, because many women are surprised that the whooping cough vaccine is not really for them, it’s actually for their baby.
 
‘I’m finding women are really interested in understanding their healthcare choices and trying to make informed decisions, and there’s such a growing trend for patients of all demographics to really be actively seeking out actual information on their own rather than just taking a backseat approach.’
 
When the data was collected between 2014–17, pertussis vaccination was administered during just 51.7% of pregnancies, predominantly at 28–31 weeks’ gestation.
 
While Dr Knight said that percentage has risen slightly since then, she is still concerned about a lack of access to vaccines and healthcare for vulnerable communities.
 
‘The [vaccination] rates were lower in First Nations communities and also those who are culturally and linguistically diverse or lower socioeconomic status, so that’s a concern,’ she said.
 
‘I think we need to really consider then how we’re working with these groups, as well as vaccine delivery, because we know certainly for Indigenous women, it may not always be about education, it may be they can’t access vaccine-based services in their area.’
 
According to the most recent data, there are around 445 hospital admissions for whooping cough in Australia each year, with more than 38% of these being children less than one year old.
 
The study’s lead author and paediatric infectious disease epidemiologist Dr Annette Regan said the research provides further reassurance of the benefits of maternal pertussis vaccination in Australia.
 
‘Maternal pertussis vaccination is vital to help protect babies from whooping cough in their first few months of life, particularly before they are eligible for their first pertussis vaccine at two months of age,’ she said.
 
Dr Knight’s advice for GPs helping their pregnant patients make vaccine choices is to start the communication early.
 
‘For some women, it’s going to be a really simple decision, it’s going to be a no brainer and they’ll say “yes, of course, I’m going to do everything that’s recommended”,’ she said.
 
‘But for other women, I think particularly since we’ve had a pandemic with COVID, they really want to understand what they’re actually doing in their healthcare and they’re not just going to follow along without understanding or having that conversation early.
 
‘I think GPs do this really well … we have such a broad lens that we can apply to our patients, we look after them as a pregnant woman, and we look after their pregnancy, but we also understand their health needs when we’re conducting an antenatal consultation.’
 
Log in below to join the conversation.

antenatal care pregnancy vaccination whooping cough