A new study found no risks associated with the administration of the whooping cough vaccine for pregnant women.
Dr. Uma Perni did not take part in the study but is an obstetrician/gynecologist at Cleveland Clinic.
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"The women who received the vaccine did not have increased incidents of pre-term delivery, small-for-gestational-age infants, or hypertensive disorders of pregnancies," said Perni.
Whooping cough is also called pertussis. The vaccine is combined with tetanus and diphtheria and is known as TDAP. Researchers at The Healthcare Institute for Education and Research studied more than 26,000 women who received the TDAP vaccine during pregnancy.
They found no increased risk for preterm births, small-for-gestational-age births, or high blood pressure during pregnancy.
Because whooping cough is a highly contagious bacterial infection that can be fatal in newborns, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends TDAP vaccination for pregnant women between the 27th and 36th week of each pregnancy, to ensure that antibodies are transferred from mom to infant.
Perni said the results of the study should provide comfort to all pregnant women.
"I think this provides a lot of reassurance for pregnant women to go ahead and get vaccinated during pregnancy," said Perni.
Complete findings for this study, Evaluation of the Association of Maternal Pertussis Vaccination with Obstetric Events and Birth Outcomes, can be found in the Journal of the American Medical Association.