Whooping cough vaccination programme advised to continue
by Pharmacy Life - Published on 21 July 2014
The joint committee on vaccination and immunisation (JCIV) has advised the Department of Health (DH) to continue with their routine whooping cough vaccination programme in pregnant women for a further five years.
This comes after both
Public Health England (PHE) and
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) published research showing the high levels of safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
Vaccinating pregnant women means antibodies in the bloodstream are passed onto the unborn baby through the placenta, protecting the baby until their first immunisation at two months old.
‘Babies too young to start their vaccinations are at greatest risk from whooping cough,’ said
Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor John Watson. ‘It’s an extremely distressing illness that can lead to young babies being admitted to hospital and can potentially be fatal. The JCVI’s advice will be welcomed by families and we will work with NHS England to ensure the programme continues to be offered to mums-to-be.’
Several infant deaths led to the DH announcing a temporary programme of routine vaccines back in October 2012.
PHE’s publication released in
The Lancet infectious diseases shows that inoculating women whilst pregnant is highly effective, with a
91 per cent reduced risk of becoming ill with the potentially-fatal disease, when compared with babies whose mothers were not immunised.
Additionally, largest study on safety to date undertaken by the MHRA was published in the
British Medical Journal and involved a pool of 18,000 vaccinated from the clinical practice research data link (CPRD).
The data showed no evidence of risk from to the developing baby or pregnancy, the rates of normal healthy births similar to the control group (unvaccinated women).
‘Coupled with the new evidence from Public Health England on the effectiveness of the vaccine, our research should provide further reassurance on the safety and benefits of the vaccine for expectant mothers and healthcare professionals who offer the vaccine,’ added lead author of the MHRA study,
Dr Katherine Donegan.
Latest data from PHE shows a decline in the overall number of cases of the illness since October 2012, with the greatest decrease in whooping cough incidents seen in infants under six months old.
In 2012 there were fourteen infant deaths related to whooping cough prior to the vaccination programme.
Eight deaths have been reported in 2013 and 2014 so far, with seven of the eight mothers whose babies died being unvaccinated.
‘We welcome JCVI’s advice that the vaccination programme for pregnant women is continued,’ said
PHE’s head of immunisation, Dr Mary Ramsay, ‘particularly while whooping cough continues to circulate at elevated levels. It has been highly effective at preventing disease, and deaths in young babies.
‘The latest figures show that
around 60 per cent of pregnant women have received the whooping cough vaccination, which is a testament to the health professionals implementing this programme. However, these infant deaths reminds us how important it is that every pregnant woman is informed about the benefits of the vaccine, and given the opportunity to receive it at the right time so their babies are protected from birth.’
Although the number of cases has fallen since 2012, the numbers still remain high compared with 2011 and Ramsay suggests inoculation must continue in order to ensure the infection falls to ‘background levels’ once again.