Pertussis in Pregnant Women Vaccination Programme
Purpose and outline
The purpose of the service specification is to enable NHS England to commission pertussis in pregnant women immunisation services of sufficient quantity and quality to prevent the infections and outbreaks caused by these organisms
The JCVI advised that pertussis in pregnant women vaccination programme should be extended for at least 5 years. JCVI considered that immunisation could be offered at one of the routine antenatal appointments and that immunisation within weeks 16 to 32 of pregnancy is likely to be optimal. Immunisation within weeks 16 to 38 of pregnancy may ensure greater overlap between the period of maximal antibody levels in the pregnant woman and the period of trans placental antibody transfer. Offering immunisation from 28 weeks would provide some protection to infants born prematurely who may be particularly vulnerable to complications from pertussis.
How this service is commissioned and provided
Regions commission this service from GP practices.
NHS England service specifications
2025/28: Information about this service
- Quality service start date: 1 April 2025
- Quality service end date: 31 March 2028
- Payment period: Monthly
- Collection frequency: Monthly
- Manual or automatic entry: Automatic data collection
- Included in data collection: All system suppliers (TPP, Medicus and EMIS)
- System type: Vaccination and Immunisation (V&I)
Service user guides
The Calculating Quality Reporting Service (CQRS) user guides describe how to participate, manually enter and declare achievement for this service.