Vaccinations and Immunisations

Vaccines offer the best protection against whooping cough

Cases of whooping cough (also known as pertussis) are on the rise across the UK and other parts of Europe. Latest figures are reported on Public Health Scotland’s website every Thursday.

Whooping cough is a highly contagious bacterial infection of the lungs and airways. It’s spread in the droplets of the coughs or sneezes of someone with the infection. It can cause severe illness and death, particularly in young unimmunised children. Babies under one year old are most at risk.

The good news is there’s a vaccine that can help protect against whooping cough. It’s around 90% effective in preventing hospital admissions in young babies and is also over 97% effective at preventing infant deaths.

The vaccine is offered to:

• pregnant women (one dose between 16-32 weeks)
• newborn babies (three doses at around 8, 12 and 16 weeks) as part of the ‘6-in-1’ vaccine
• infants (one dose aged 3 years and 4 months) as part of the ‘4-in-1’ vaccine.

It’s extremely important that pregnant women get the vaccine. This will help to protect the baby in the first few vulnerable weeks of life until they’re old enough to have their first routine immunisations at around 8 weeks.

For more information about the whooping cough vaccine in pregnancy, speak to your midwife or visit www.nhsinform.scot/whoopingcough

For more information about the 6-in-1 vaccine offered to newborn babies speak to your health visitor or visit www.nhsinform.scot/6in1