Pregnant women advised to get whooping cough vaccine

Denmark is experiencing a whooping cough epidemic these days, according to Danish health authorities.

Although the epidemic has not yet spread to the Faroes, pregnant women in the Faroes are advised to vaccinate themselves against whooping cough.

Whooping cough, also known as ‘pertussis’ (‘kikhosti’ in Faroese), is normally just considered a nuisance for people with a normal immune system.

However, for unvaccinated newborn babies, it can be a dangerous and potentially life-threatening condition due to their narrower airways.

Safe vaccine

Pregnant women are therefore advised to get vaccinated against whooping cough to protect their babies.

“I strongly recommend this vaccine as a necessary precaution here,” says Fróði Joensen, the chief physician at the children’s ward at the National Hospital.

He says that whooping cough outbreaks occur in the Faroes every 3-4 years. The last one was in 2019, and given the current epidemic in Denmark, another outbreak is expected in the Faroes soon.

“The vaccine has been thoroughly tested and no major side effects have been detected. So, I can safely recommend that pregnant women take it,” says Joensen.

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

English version by prosa.fo.

More Faroese News in English.