Whopping Cough Posted or Updated on 9 Aug 2024

Whooping cough vaccination

Whooping cough (pertussis) cases continue to rise, with 1,319 cases confirmed in March 2024 compared with 858 cases for the whole of 2023.

The infection can be serious for babies who are too young to start their vaccination.

The pertussis vaccination in pregnancy helps to protect people who are pregnant and young babies against serious illness.

If you are pregnant you will normally receive your whooping cough vaccine around the time of your mid-pregnancy scan (usually 20 weeks) but you can receive it from 16 weeks. If you have reached 20 weeks of pregnancy and have not yet been offered the whooping cough vaccine, please ask your midwife or we can offer the pertussis vaccine at the practice.