Tdap vaccine recommended for pregnant women in third trimester

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is article provided by local physician Dr. Robert P. Blereau of Morgan City.
Tdap is a relatively new vaccine containing tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough booster components.
For many decades, the Td shot was the standard tetanus booster.
In recent years, there have been an increasing number of whooping cough outbreaks around the country with fatalities — especially in very young infants and the people over 65 years of age.
There is no vaccine shown to produce whooping cough immunity in infants under 2 months of age.
Giving Tdap in pregnancy stimulates mother to produce whooping cough antibodies (protection) which pass through the placenta to the baby and helps the baby fight off whooping cough germs.
Four large studies in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States have now shown giving Tdap between 27 and 36 weeks of pregnancy significantly decreases whooping cough disease morbidity, hospitalization and mortality in infants up to at least 3 months of age.
Tdap given to the mother in the last trimester (27 to 36 weeks) gives the greatest protection to the baby.
The Centers for Disease Control recommends Tdap also be given to mothers in every pregnancy no matter the interval between pregnancies.
The CDC recommends one Tdap vaccination for all adults who have not previously received one. This is particularly true for all close contacts with newborn babies, like the father, grandparents, close relatives and friends.
Whooping cough can be difficult to diagnose in an adult and requires specific tests.
Many adults with whooping cough may just have a chronic cough and not be seriously ill, thereby unknowingly transmitting the germ in cough droplets to an unprotected newborn.