More pregnant women to receive whooping cough jabs

By vaccinating mothers-to-be, it is believed they will pass on some short-term immunity to their babies when they are born. Picture: PA

Figures show there have been 574 cases reported to health chiefs since the start of 2013, compared with 155 for the same period last year. This included 35 new cases in the week ending 12 April.

In a letter to health boards, Chief Medical Officer Sir Harry Burns said the jabs programme was being extended until further advice was received from vaccination experts.

In response to what is the worst outbreak of the disease since the 1980s, a six-month programme to immunise pregnant women against whooping cough was introduced last  October.

By vaccinating mothers-to-be, it is believed they will pass on some short-term immunity to their babies when they are born.

Inoculations are typically given at around two to three months. Newborns are particularly vulnerable until that stage.

Pertussis – the medical term for whooping cough – can lead to serious health complications in infants.

Although there were no deaths in Scotland last year, 13 fatalities were reported in England and Wales.

“The highest morbidity and mortality occurs in infants too young to be protected through routine vaccination,” Sir Harry wrote at the start of the programme in October.

“Every effort should be made by medical practitioners, midwives and others to encourage pertussis vaccination for pregnant women and maximise its uptake.

“It is also important that data on vaccination is shared between GPs and midwives timeously, ideally within ten working days.”

The Scottish Government is urging pregnant women to take up the vaccination.

The Department of Health has taken steps to ensure that sufficient stocks of drugs are available to rapidly implement an interim vaccination programme of pregnant women from week 28 of their pregnancy.

UK-wide, the total number of cases last year was around ten times that of 2011.

Dr Alison Smith-Palmer, from Health Protection Scotland, said infants are particularly susceptible. “Pertussis infection can affect any age group, but if the youngest get it, they are likely to see complications.

“Young infants start to get their own inoculations after eight weeks, and then at three and four months. However, there is a period before then when they are not protected.

“Although we haven’t had any deaths in Scotland, there have been some south of the Border.

“Most of the hospitalisations we’ve had in Scotland are in young infants, and our message would be to ensure pregnant women get the vaccination to pass on the protection to their unborn children.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Approximately 4,830 women each month will be eligible to receive the vaccine. In February, the estimated vaccine uptake was 78 per cent.”

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