The Tdap vaccine isn’t linked to autism, says new 3-year study

One of two recommended immunizations for pregnant people

The Tdap vaccine is one of two immunizations recommended during every pregnancy, along with the inactivated influenza vaccination , according to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

The ACOG recently released a new, straightforward set of pregnancy immunization guidelines to to clarify the rules around which immunizations expecting mothers should get and when, noting that “there is no evidence of adverse fetal effects from vaccinating pregnant women with inactivated virus, bacterial vaccines or toxoids, and a growing body of data demonstrate the safety of such use.”

“Our goal was to increase vaccination rates among pregnant women and make it easier for providers to routinely prescribe them,” Dr. Laura Riley, one of the guide’s authors and chair of the ACOG immunization work group, told Newsweek .

Beyond Tdap and the flu shot, other vaccines may be recommended at the discretion of the woman’s health care provider on the basis on the mother’s age, previous immunizations, disease risk factors or chronic conditions.

The immunizations for measles-mumps-rubella and varicella (which are live vaccines) are not to be administered during pregnancy, but may be given postpartum even among breastfeeding mothers.

Why Tdap is recommended

The AAP notes that cases of pertussis have risen over the last decade, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , half of the babies infected with whooping cough must be treated in the hospital and there are fatalities every year.

The AAP says evidence has shown that when moms get the Tdap shot while pregnant, “antibodies are passed along to newborns and that the vaccine was 91.4 percent effective in providing some immunity until newborns reached 2 months of age.”

Knowing that there is no association between a prenatal exposure to the Tdap vaccination and autism may mean more mothers get the shot, which could mean fewer newborns will be hospitalized.