A new study out of Northern California, looked at 148,981 infants born between 2010 and 2015, and their rates of whooping cough, also known as pertussis. Mothers who were given the Tdap vaccine during pregnancy, passed that protection from pertussis to their babies.
That vaccine was 91.4 percent effective during the infant’s first two months of life, and 69 percent effective during the child’s entire first year. That before two-months period is particularly important because that is the time before a baby can be vaccinated.
Giving moms a vaccine for whooping cough can help prevent a baby from getting it.
photos.com 2007
The study, which will be published in the May issue of Pediatrics, confirmed the current recommendations that pregnant women get vaccinated with the Tdap vaccine between weeks 27 and 36.
It also showed that the vaccine was more effective than cocooning, that practice of avoiding contact between the baby and unvaccinated people.
