Call for pregnant women to be vaccinated against whooping cough

The Scientific Institute for Public Health (WIV) has issued a reminder than women need to be vaccinated against whooping cough when they become pregnant even if it is not their first pregnancy.

The call comes as whooping cough proves stubbornly persistent in Belgium. Numbers have come down from the high point in the first half of the 20th century, but the trend has turned upward in recent years: there were only 500 cases in 2012, but two years later the number had gone up to 1,400.

Vaccination against the disease is safe, WIV stressed. “What’s more, the delivery of a booster vaccination during pregnancy protects the newborn in the first months of life, while waiting for the baby’s own vaccination,” the organisation said.

Pertussis, also known as whooping cough from the distinctive sound of the patient’s breathing, is a highly infectious disease that can be fatal in children under the age of six months. Vaccination for children takes place between six weeks and two years. Adults who have been vaccinated, however, lose protection gradually, and doctors advise booster injections.

Photo: Ingimage