If you are in your last trimester, your doctor might be mentioning that you need to get a tetanus booster shot. Because I also work in public health, I get many questions about the why, the need, the safety of this vaccine. Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis has been around since I was a child when it was called DPT. It did a pretty good job of protecting me from getting the whooping cough. As I grew older, that vaccine became a shot I got for stepping on nails or needing to get it to participate in boy scouts. Over the years, there have been pertussis outbreaks through the Oneida County area. The recommendations have change because of that and now any child going into 6th grade is required to get a Tdap vaccine.
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| from London School of EconomicsPrinter: Mospoligraf Publisher: Gosmedizdat Place of Production: Moscow Date: 1930 Two sepia illustrations, the first showing a breast-feeding mother with a cloth wrapped around her nose and mouth; the second showing a mother pushing another woman away from the baby on her lap. |
On February 22, ACIP published its October 2012 recommendation stating that pregnant women should receive Tdap vaccine during each pregnancy, irrespective of the patient’s prior history of receiving Tdap. Receiving a Tdap vaccine during pregnancy allows for maternal pertussis antibodies to be transferred to the newborn and likely provides protection to the baby against pertussis early in life, before the baby is able to receive diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis(DtaP) vaccines. Tdap will also protect the mother, making her less likely to transmit pertussis to her infant after birth. Optimal timing for Tdap administration is between 27 and 36 weeks gestation although Tdap may be given at any time during pregnancy. Pregnant women not previously vaccinated with Tdap and who did not receive Tdap during the pregnancy should receive Tdap immediately postpartum.
To read the recommendation,
Updated Recommendations for Use of Tetanus Toxoid, Reduced Diphtheria Toxoid, and
Acellular Pertussis Vaccine (Tdap) in Pregnant Women
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP),2012
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| This image depicts a female infant who presented to a clinic suffering from what was diagnosed as pertussis. provided by CDC. |
Pertussis is a highly communicable, vaccine-preventable disease due to
Bordetella pertussis, a gram-negative coccobacillus,
lasting for many weeks and typically afflicts children with severe
coughing, whooping, and posttussive vomiting.
So - to sum it up.
If you are pregnant - consider getting a Tdap vaccine between 27 and 36 weeks gestation. This way the baby gets the benefit of receiving protection early in their life. Plus, it is good to make sure that the people who will be around the baby on a regular basis - father, older siblings, grandparents get this vaccine to keep them from getting whooping cough.
The sneaky thing about pertussis is that when an adult gets this, they shrug it off as a bad cough or bronchitis. Their symptoms aren't that strong. BUT, now they have passed it on to an infant that has NO protection from whooping cough and 50% of all infants who contract pertussis will be hospitalized.
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| Office for Emerency Management. 1943-45 And this is how it is spread. Of course, we can't see our coughs this way -- thank goodness, but how many times have you been sitting next to someone who turns their head to sneeze or cough and misses his shoulder and you get the full blast of - yup - his germs. Or coughs into his hands and then --- horrors, reaches out to shake yours and introduce himself. |
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