Pertussis (Whooping Cough Vaccination Programme for Pregnant Women
Following on from advice from the JCVI, the CMO (England) have asked that commissioners urgently put in place a pertussis (whooping cough) vaccination programme for pregnant women to respond to the outbreak of infection. The GPC and the Department of Health have agreed this National Enhanced Service (NES) specification for practices to undertake the vaccination of pregnant women from 1 October 2012.

A summary of the NES agreement is below:

• Vaccination of pregnant women in the third trimester (recommended between 28 and 38 weeks of pregnancy) with dTaP/IPV (Repevax®)

• Practices will receive £7.67 per dose of vaccine given and will be responsible for determining how best to contact pregnant women to offer vaccination

• Practices will already be holding stocks of Repevax® for the routine childhood programme and so can use this immediately to commence vaccination

• Further stocks can be ordered through Immsform. As central supply applies no claim for reimbursement of vaccines costs (personal administration fee) apply.

This temporary programme commenced on 1 October 2012 and will be funded centrally. The LMC have had discussions with the PCT who confirm that this DH letter is a letter of authority/guarantee and the NES will be issued to practices ASAP. If practices are approached by patients prior to the NES being issued, they should progress with vaccination and reporting for payment is likely to follow that used for flu vaccinations.

If you have any questions please contact Toks Sangowawa (toks.sangowawa@nhs.net) or Jane Lawson (janelawson@nhs.net) at the PCT for further information.

The LMC and PCT will have further discussions as to how midwives can contribute to this vaccination programme – until this is finalised midwives will be asked to refer patients who have not yet been vaccinated to their GP practice.

Please note that although Infanrix is licensed for Pertussis vaccination, it does not provide the same protection as provided by Repevax. As such, JCVI has only recommended Repevax for this programme, which practices can order via ImmForm.