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Changes to the pertussis vaccination for pregnant women

The pertussis vaccination for pregnant women has been updated in the Green Book, coming into effect from the start of April 2016. The updated Green Book says:

Pregnant women should be offered a single 0.5 ml dose of dTaP/IPV vaccine. Vaccine should be offered to women in every pregnancy. Vaccination should be offered between gestational weeks 16 and 32 to maximise the likelihood that the baby will be protected from birth. For operational reasons, vaccination is probably best offered on or after the foetal anomaly scan at around 20 weeks. Women may still be immunised after week 32 of pregnancy but this may not offer as high a level of passive protection to the baby. Vaccination late in pregnancy may, however, directly protect the mother against disease and thereby just reduce the risk of exposure to her infant.

March 2016's Public Health England Vaccine Update can be read here. The previous PGD in place (updated in January 2016) only covered from 28 weeks and not 20 weeks gestation.

Last updated : 13 Apr 2016

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