Whooping cough vaccine now free for pregnant women in Alberta

Pregnant women in Alberta can now get a free vaccine for whooping cough, and they're being urged to do so during each pregnancy.

"It will hopefully eliminate the cases that we see in infants," deputy medical officer of health Dr. Kristin Klein said.

Alberta Health announced the change Wednesday but it went into effect on Jan. 1.

Before then, pregnant people were encouraged to get vaccinated against whooping cough once, to cover all future pregnancies. They also had to pay out of pocket for the shot, called dTap vaccine.

In the past decade, 61 newborns under two months old have contracted whooping cough and three have died, Klein said. Infants are especially susceptible to developing serious complications from the illness, formally known as pertussis.

The extreme cough can stop infants from breathing and they can potentially get pneumonia or even die from the infection.

Newborns aren't eligible to be vaccinated themselves until they're two months old. So they go unprotected during that time.

But if a mother is vaccinated, the antibodies travel from the placenta to the fetus. When the baby is born, they already have antibodies to protect them against whooping cough, Klein said.

The child is then vaccinated at two months, and receives a further five boosters through to Grade 9. 

"It's one of those that you need to have multiple times through your life in order to be fully protected," Klein said.

"This extra dose in pregnancy is to ensure optimal protection for infants right after birth, which is a really sensitive and vulnerable time."

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization also recommends this for all pregnant women, she said.

The province has been keeping an eye on the issue. In 2017, there was an outbreak in Alberta with a lot of cases in south and central zones, Klein said.

To ensure the vaccine is transferred to the infant upon birth, women are urged to get immunized between 27 and 32 weeks during their pregnancy. They should get it even if they've had it for other pregnancies.

Several large national studies have been done on whooping cough immunization for pregnant women and none have shown negative effects on mom or baby, Klein said.

"We fully believe the vaccine is safe in pregnancy," she said.

The vaccines are available through AHS public health clinics or from a pharmacy with a prescription.

Health officials also urged Alberta parents to vaccinate their kids against measles. One province over, British Columbia is fighting an outbreak of the potentially deadly disease.

Alberta vaccination rates are far below the target rate required to achieve "herd immunity," which prevents outbreaks.