Whooping cough vaccine for Derbyshire women

GPs in Derbyshire are to begin offering pregnant women the whooping cough vaccine following a sharp rise in the number of young babies who have died from the disease.

The temporary vaccine programme was launched by the Department of Health on Friday, September 28, and aims to boost the short-term immunity passed on by pregnant women to protect their newborn babies – who normally cannot be vaccinated until two months of age. 

Nationally, nine babies have died as a result of whooping cough this year and there have been 302 cases of the disease in children under three months old – more than double the 115 cases reported in the whole of 2011, according to the Health Protection Agency. 

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