Protect Newborns from Whooping Cough: Know Your Vaccine Status

Pertussis, or whooping cough, can be fatal for newborn infants who have not yet received the whooping cough vaccination. The best way to protect your newborn from whooping cough is to make sure you and your friends and family are up to date on the "Tdap" vaccine—the pertussis vaccine for teens and adults.

Cases of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, are on the rise in the U.S., recently reaching the highest level in 50 years. The disease can be serious or even fatal to newborns who have not yet received vaccinations.

Effective vaccines against pertussis have been available for many decades, but that vaccine protection can wear off over time. A new University of Michigan poll shows that 61 percent of adults say they don’t know when they were last vaccinated against pertussis, which could mean they might be unknowingly exposing vulnerable babies to the disease.

Only 20 percent of adults reported that they received the pertussis vaccine less than 10 years ago (the recommended time frame) and 19 percent said they were vaccinated more than 10 years ago.

“Pertussis is a very preventable disease,” says Matthew M. Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P., director of the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.

“But many adults may think their childhood vaccinations still are protecting them against pertussis. Findings from this poll show that few adults have received a booster shot within the recommended 10-year time frame and in fact, two-thirds told us they were not aware of their vaccination status.”

Pertussis easily spreads within households, day care facilities, schools, and neighborhoods and is most often serious in infants and young children. In fact, the majority of deaths from pertussis occur in children younger than 3 months old.