Whooping cough vaccine - thoughts?

[Pielette]

Have you ladies had this done? Can I ask why/why not?

I'm not looking to start a debate, I'm just a bit frustrated because I'm trying to look online for things for and against and all I can find is NHS stuff telling me to do it. I'd love to see some links for research etc if you ladies have any.

I just don't know what to do because I feel woefully uninformed and I hate doing stuff when I don't know the pros and cons. I refused the flu jab because I have never had it in my life and didn't want to have it when I felt it was unnecessary based on my history.

But not sure about the whooping cough one because it scares the life out of me to think of my baby potentially contracting it very young.

 

[sue_88]

I'll be having it. My midwife told me at 5 weeks when I would be offered it, and I will be asking her tomorrow at my 28wk appointment to either give it me or tell me where to go to get it.

I've had any vaccine that was recommended to me, after consulting my nurse sister.

Just the mere throught of a newborn with whooping cough is enough to make me accept.

 

[Mica]

That's how I was when they asked me if I wanted the vaccine. It's really hard to find objective info on the web, everyone has an agenda - it's either government websites telling you to get it or overenthusiastic pseudoscientists telling you not to. When I tried to poll people on this forum, no one really had any reading recommendations for me. So I did what research I could, and I did struggle with the decision, but I went ahead and got the shot. I'm not anti-vaccine, but I am wary of them. Ultimately, I know that the risks of the diseases are greater than the risks of the vaccines. It did make me nervous to think about getting a vaccine while pregnant! I'd never heard of that! But I didn't want to risk the chance of my baby getting whooping cough, and I wasn't able to find any other greater risk to him from the vaccine. I did decline the flu shot though, for the same reason as you.
I guess I felt like my nurse was being pushy with me about getting these shots, which made me even warier of getting them. I'm hoping we can find a good pediatrician, who will be willing to work with us on the vaccination schedule, and who isn't so pushy.

 

[Quailpower]

I will be getting it.

You only need to look at the problems with Measles in Wales at the moment because people were mislead about the MMR vaccine being unsafe.

 

[Preggo79]

I had it done at the 28 weeks appointment mostly because I read and heard that whooping cough is extremely dangerous for a newborn and having my other son in preschool, although immunized against W.C., can increase the odds of having the whooping cough in our household. My husband will also get the shot, just to be on the safe side.
About 10 years ago I met a family whose newborn had been exposed to measles when he was about 10 weeks old (his 6 years sister got the disease at school) and he has been left with serious neurological problems (I do not know the name of the illness), that he is still struggling with.
So, better safe than sorry!

 

[Pielette]

Thank you for your opinions ladies.

I'm also quite in favour of vaccinations and my DS has had everything as scheduled. I guess it just makes me nervous to be having vaccinations whilst pregnant, it's nothing definitive and I can't put my finger on it, but it scares me.

Mica I found the same thing - my midwife was very pushy about the flu vaccine but I stuck to my opinion on that one. The whooping cough thing I'm more inclined to do because the protection for the two months before he can have his own vaccinations sounds great.

 

[Powell130]

I'm getting it at the hospital when i go to deliver. My husband is getting it soon. I'm also having anyone that will be around him until he is old enough to have it himself get it or they'll only be around him for short periods of time. I'm not taking any chances considering how dangerous whooping cough is for babies

 

[MrsGards]

i called my local health authority, you can get their number on your local council website, and I asked how many confirmed cases of whooping cough had occured within 10 miles of my house. They called me back and told me in great detail how many children, how many adults, how many babies and also whether there had been any deaths from it. There had been 59 cases within 10 miles and 39 of them were babies under 1.
I then asked my MW whether she, if she was pregnant now, would have it and I wanted a honest opinion based on what she knows. She said she wasnt able to give it to me. As we are moving house to Scotland 7 weeks after baby is born, I asked if that was a reason to have the vaccine as baby wont have been vaccinated by then and obviously we will be in a completely different area to where we are now, she said based on that, she said she would strongly recommend the vaccine to me.
I still wasnt happy by this LOL so I booked the appointment and requested it was with the practice sister who I then interragated for 25 minutes on how they know the vaccine is safe, why cant they give it to baby as soon as baby is born, why dont they routinely give the vaccine to everyone if whooping cough is so bad, how has the vaccine been tested and so on before I let her jab me with it!!

Definitely make sure your completely happy before having it, but I know some places are stopping it now as its getting to the end of the whooping cough season. x

 

[c.30]

I had the flu jab and the whooping cough vaccine. For me it was a complete no brainer, with 13 baby deaths due to the cough and seeing the little baby's on the news who had it I've had a scan since having both and she seems fine in there and I have the peace of mind that shes vaccinated

 

[frsttimemama]

I had it two weeks ago. I think I found info on it when I googled Whooping Cough. I'm definitely for it if I can save my little guy from getting sick just by getting vaccinated. I was probably due for another tetanus shot anyway, so I just went ahead and got it.

 

[Firestar]

I had it done at 28 weeks - I knew if I didn't I'd worry. my finances brother had whooping cough when he was 4 or 5, and has suffered since from chronic fatigue which for me, was a good enough. reasonto get it done

 

[nzjade]

I'm having it for sure, and the flu jab. I'm making OH get them as well, and my Mum and Stepdad are both getting them both too. My stepsister is also having a baby so we want to make sure the first two babies in our family are safe. Here in NZ, the whooping cough vaccine is free to pregnant woman between 28 and 38 weeks. They had an ad on the radio over here a while ago of the sound of a newborn baby with whooping cough, it was the most heartbreaking sound.

 

[sheldonsmommy]

I was vaccinated for it, and I contracted pertussis as well (me and my three younger sisters). I was a little older, so not a baby, but I remember waking up in the middle of the night coughing a violent coarse cough and not being able to inhale afterward, it was awful. All four of us would wake up coughing and gasping for air. I can't imagine a baby going through it.

I whole-heartedly believe in vaccinations for me and my family. I am also a registered nurse, and I can say on behalf of other nurses we seem pushy sometimes because we've learned much about individual and herd immunity, and how vaccines have helped eliminate some illnesses from our population, especially our fragile populations (ie babies, elderly people, immunocompromised people, etc).

I also completely encourage all people to be informed about their own health. Have you tried looking at any WHO reports? Or a statistics website for your country? In canada our statistics are made public. I hope you get the information you're looking for

 

[Happy2BeMommy]

I had it done 1 day postpartum (4/2/13), and after discharge on 4/3, came home and had to go to the ER for a fever. They figured I reacted to the vaccine. Never again! I couldn't even move or care for my newborn.

 

[sue_88]

I just had my 28 wk check up with my midwife at home & they've said that I need to make the appointment with my GP surgery.

So I will be doing that tomorrow!

 

[julesjules100]

Have you ladies had this done? Can I ask why/why not?

I'm not looking to start a debate, I'm just a bit frustrated because I'm trying to look online for things for and against and all I can find is NHS stuff telling me to do it. I'd love to see some links for research etc if you ladies have any.

I just don't know what to do because I feel woefully uninformed and I hate doing stuff when I don't know the pros and cons. I refused the flu jab because I have never had it in my life and didn't want to have it when I felt it was unnecessary based on my history.

But not sure about the whooping cough one because it scares the life out of me to think of my baby potentially contracting it very young.

Hi there

Apols but haven't read all the posts. Couple of things:

This is quite interesting from the CDC in the US (who are running a similar programme to the UK although their combined vaccine doesn't contain polio like ours does). They would avoid imunising against polio during pregnancy unless the person was in an area where it was prevalent. Unfortunately the UK one contains polio so we have no choice in the matter (the US one does not contain it).

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/preg-guide.htm#tdap

Bit of info on whooping cough, rates and transmission of immunity in utero:

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/pertussis/tdap-pregnancy-hcp.htm

Says that there is evidence that whooping cough antibodies transfer well to the child in utero but the effectiveness of this in preventing whooping cough is not yet know. The UK has recently issued a review of the programme in Feb 2013 (although I can't find it now but will keep looking) which effectively stated that there is no clear indication that the programme is helping the overall rates of whooping cough, which is frustrating given they have pushed to have all pregnant women vaccinated as it being a "no brainer".

Some stats on epidemiology:
From CDC site: In 2010, 27,550 cases of pertussis were reported in the United States; 3,350 of those cases were in infants younger than 6 months of age — 25 of those infants died. Studies have shown that when the source of pertussis was identified, mothers were responsible for 30–40% of infant infections.

Recent data on UK cases by region (regardless of age): https://www.hpa.org.uk/NewsCentre/N...130301Casesofwhoopingcoughcontinuetodecrease/

In my view these numbers are extremely low, particularly the death rate. I discussed all of this with my consultant and with a virologist who said that the points I made were valid (i.e. the risks of a combined vaccine in pregnancy versus the fact that neither the US or the UK actually knows for sure if the programme is actually effective).

All that said, I wasn't going to have the vaccine but have recently done so but I AGONISED over whether or not to do so (it was the snap of cold weather that pushed me in the end). There is also some interesting stuff on the The Department of Health's JCVI minutes (and it could be the Feb 2013 minutes that I read about the programme effectiveness but can't see them on their site. It's public record so if you emailed them I'm sure they would send them to you).

x

 

[summer rain]

Thank you Julesjules that was extremely interesting. I haven't been offered the vaccine but if I was I would decline, firstly I have concerns about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine secondly I am allergic to one of the ingredients in this particular version (and no other is available on the NHS) xx

 

[julesjules100]

Indeed, I had the same concerns as I had a bad reaction to Revaxis, repevax's sister. Luckily though nothing this time. I was completely dead against having it and I must admit that I regret doing so now. Too late. I looked round to get it done privately but no single vaccine available although lots of places happy to give me Infanrix, although that has a higher dose of diphtheria.

My consultant also said that it would be reasonable to leave it too given my baby is coming at the end of April when the numbers will have fallen again as the weather improves. x

 

[Pielette]

Thank you ladies

MrsGards that's a great tip, I'd be very interested to know what the stats are for my region so I will get in touch with my local healthy authority, thank you.

Julesjules thank you for the info, it does concern me that they're pushing it that hard without any concrete knowledge of how effective it actually is. Looking at the stats on the number of cases for my region it's 113, which is the highest so I suppose that makes me think maybe I should have it. Having said that it doesn't break it down by adult, child or baby etc.

 

[julesjules100]

Thank you ladies

MrsGards that's a great tip, I'd be very interested to know what the stats are for my region so I will get in touch with my local healthy authority, thank you.

Julesjules thank you for the info, it does concern me that they're pushing it that hard without any concrete knowledge of how effective it actually is. Looking at the stats on the number of cases for my region it's 113, which is the highest so I suppose that makes me think maybe I should have it. Having said that it doesn't break it down by adult, child or baby etc.

As if by magic:

Lab confirmed cases of pertussis in the UK up to Q2 2012 https://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&Page&HPAwebAutoListName/Page/1191942148402 (table 2 is by region and age)

Total death in the UK under the age of 1: https://www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1317136329151 c 10 in in the first 3 quarters of 2012

Declining WC cases in UK for interest https://www.hpa.org.uk/NewsCentre/N...asesofwhoopingcoughdeclineafterrecordnumbers/

x