Safety monitoring of whooping cough (pertussis) vaccination in pregnancy

Since December 2019, pregnant women in the Netherlands will be offered a pertussis vaccination at 22-weeks pregnancy. With this vaccination, a pregnant woman protects her child and herself against whooping cough. The vaccine is offered by the National Immunisation Programme (NIP) and is free of charge. The Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Centre Lareb will, just like with other vaccines in the NIP in the Netherlands, monitor the safety of this vaccine. 

In recent years, much research has been done into the safety of a whooping cough (pertussis) vaccination during pregnancy. These studies showed that there is no increased risk of, for example, miscarriage or premature birth for women who have been vaccinated as compared to women who have not been vaccinated. The most common adverse drug reactions are fever and injection side reactions, like redness, swelling, and pain. 

The Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Centre Lareb monitors the safety of this whooping cough (pertussis) vaccination in pregnancy by means of periodically analysis of spontaneous reports. In addition, pregnant woman can register to take part in the Dutch Pregnancy Drug Register, pREGnant. pREGnant was set up to obtain insight into medication use among pregnant and breastfeeding women and potential effects on maternal and fetal/infant health.