Signage is seen outside of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, August 29, 2020.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a vaccine to be used within the third trimester of pregnancy to stop whooping cough in newborn infants.
The vaccine, called Boostrix, is made by GlaxoSmithKline. It’s the primary vaccine the FDA has approved to stop a disease in young infants by giving the shot to their moms while pregnant, said Dr. Peter Marks, the agency’s chief vaccine official.
The vaccine, which is run as a single dose, was 78% effective in stopping whooping cough in newborns when given to moms through the third trimester, in line with data evaluated by the FDA. No uncomfortable side effects on the pregnancy, fetus or newborn were observed.
Probably the most common uncomfortable side effects for individuals who receive the vaccine are pain on the injection site, headache and fatigue.
Pertussis, more commonly often called whooping cough, is a highly contagious respiratory disease that may result in serious health complications in babies. Infants younger than two months usually are not sufficiently old to receive protection through the conventional childhood vaccination series for the disease.
The vaccine allows moms to guard their newborns by getting the shot while they’re pregnant. While whooping cough can affect all age groups, most cases of hospitalization and death occur infants younger than two months old, in line with FDA.
The FDA had previously approved Boostrix to be used while pregnant to guard the mother against disease, but had not cleared it specifically to stop whooping cough in newborns. The vaccine was first approved in 2005 to guard people ages 10 to 18 years old against whooping cough after which later for everybody ages 19 and older.
