About the whooping cough vaccine you’ll be offered

The whooping cough vaccine is offered during pregnancy to help protect your baby against whooping cough.

Most people in Scotland will receive the ADACEL vaccine to help protect against whooping cough.

This vaccine protects against 3 different diseases:

There is no whooping cough only vaccine currently available.

If you cannot have the ADACEL whooping cough vaccine, an alternative vaccine (Boostrix-IPV or REPEVAX) may be suitable. Your midwife will be able to advise about which vaccine is right for you.

Whooping cough vaccine ingredients

You can read about the ingredients for all types of whooping cough vaccine in the patient information leaflets.

Inactivated vaccine

The whooping cough vaccine is an inactivated vaccine. This means that it’s not a live vaccine.

The vaccine cannot cause you or your baby to contract whooping cough. It’s the safest and most effective way to protect your baby from whooping cough.

Number of doses needed

You only need 1 dose of the whooping cough vaccine for you and your baby to be fully protected. This is the same even if you’re expecting more than one baby.

You’ll need to get 1 dose of the whooping cough vaccine every time you’re pregnant.

The whooping cough vaccine will help protect your baby in the first weeks of life. They’ll still need their own vaccine at 8 weeks to continue their protection.

The whooping cough vaccine is effective

Getting the vaccine is an effective way of protecting you and your baby from whooping cough. The vaccine offers around 90% protection against death from whooping cough in babies under 3 months of age.

A whooping cough vaccine has been offered in Scotland since 2012.

The whooping cough vaccine is safe

All medicines (including vaccines) are tested for safety and effectiveness before they’re allowed to be used. Their safety continues to be monitored once in use. The vaccine meets the high safety standards required to be used in the UK and other European countries.