Whooping Cough: Vaccination
(asked on 2nd January 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the proportion of pregnant women who are not offered the whooping cough vaccine by 20 weeks’ gestation; and what steps are being taken to improve timely access.
All pregnant women in England should be offered the pertussis vaccination in every pregnancy, around the time of the mid-pregnancy scan, usually 20 weeks, and ideally before 32 weeks.
Recent data shows maternal pertussis vaccination coverage from July to September 2025 was 71.9%, which was 7.5% higher than the equivalent period in 2025. The data is available at the following link:
NHS England has implemented a range of measures to ensure timely access to the pertussis vaccination programme, including NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency having developed a joint maternal vaccines toolkit and campaign to promote timely uptake of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), whooping cough, and flu vaccines during pregnancy, highlighting the protection provided to newborns.
NHS England has commissioned community pharmacies in the North West, Midlands, London, and the East of England to deliver pertussis and RSV vaccines, increasing convenience and capacity, particularly in areas of high deprivation and low uptake.
A maternal vaccination postcard has been translated into seven additional languages and distributed to 200 practices with lower uptake. Tailored communications are shared through community and faith-based channels, including radio, podcasts, and local publications.
NHS England regularly shares vaccination information with pregnancy and parenting organisations such as Tommy’s and the NCT, as well as community and faith groups, for use on their websites, newsletters, and social media.