Pertussis Booster Vaccination in Pregnancy: Women Who had it Compared to Those Who Waited

AbstractBackgroundGuidelines for protecting young infants from pertussis now recommend maternal pertussis booster vaccination (dTpa) during pregnancy (3rd trimester) over postpartum maternal vaccination.MethodsWe undertook a cross-sectional survey of 723 postpartum women on the postnatal ward of a private hospital in Sydney, Australia. We excluded 47% of women who were ‘up to date’ with their pertussis booster prior to pregnancy. We surveyed the remaining 53% of women who were eligible for the pertussis booster vaccine during their pregnancy (no dTpa<5years).ResultsIn our study, pertussis booster vaccine uptake during pregnancy was only 8.7%. We confirmed that vaccination mostly occurred at the family doctor's practice (25/33; 75.8%), at an average of 34 weeks gestation (±5wks). Women vaccinated during pregnancy were more likely to report that they received a pregnancy-specific pertussis vaccine recommendation (