The FDA approved the first whooping cough vaccine to be administered in pregnant people in their third trimester to prevent the infection among infants younger than 2 months old.
The CDC recommends whooping cough vaccines for all ages, with the first five shots advised for children between 2 months old and 6 years old. A sixth vaccine jab is then recommended for children between 11 and 12 years old. The FDA's recent approval of Boostrix, GSK's vaccine, is intended for pregnant people between weeks 27 and 36.
"While vaccination is the best method for providing protection, infants younger than two months of age are too young to be protected by the childhood pertussis vaccine series," Peter Marks, MD, PhD, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in an Oct. 7 statement. "This is the first vaccine approved specifically for use during pregnancy to prevent a disease in young infants whose mothers are vaccinated during pregnancy."
Boostrix was already approved by the FDA to protect the pregnant person, but its latest approval is specific to preventing whooping cough in infants younger than 2 months old.