Pregnant Women Are Fighting Their Own Families Over Whooping Cough Vaccine

Getting a vaccine during pregnancy is stressful enough on its own. But for many expectant mothers, the bigger battle isn’t with their own hesitation. It’s with the in-laws, partners, and parents who refuse to get vaccinated before meeting the newborn. A new study analyzing years of Reddit posts found that family pushback over the Tdap vaccine was the most prevalent subtheme in the dataset, and the conflict it sparked was causing real stress and emotional strain.

Researchers at Purdue University, writing in the journal PLOS Global Public Health, combed through Reddit discussions from October 2020 to October 2023, looking at what pregnant women were saying about the Tdap vaccine, which protects against whooping cough, tetanus, and diphtheria. Because newborns are too young to be vaccinated themselves, the CDC recommends that pregnant women get the shot during their third trimester to pass protective antibodies to the baby before birth. Public health guidance also calls for family members and caregivers to stay up to date on their vaccinations, helping create a protective circle around the newborn. As the Reddit posts revealed, getting loved ones on board with that recommendation is often its own ordeal.

Despite the vaccine’s importance, only about 55.4% of pregnant women in the U.S. received it as of 2023, according to figures cited in the study. Meanwhile, some women reported that their providers never brought up the vaccine at all, while others received conflicting advice from multiple doctors about when to get it, leaving them confused about the right course of action.

Why Pregnant Women Are Turning to Reddit for Whooping Cough Vaccine Advice

Online communities have become an important health resource for pregnant women. One study cited in the research found that 61% of pregnant women searched for information about the Tdap vaccine during pregnancy, with 76% of those relying on the internet or social media, more than the 63% who consulted a healthcare provider. Reddit, with its anonymous format and long-form threaded conversations, proved especially useful for surfacing candid discussions and in-depth perspectives outside the clinical setting.

Purdue’s research team collected posts using Reddit’s search tool, pulling any English-language post that mentioned the Tdap vaccine alongside pregnancy-related terms. After screening for relevance, the team included 86 posts in the final analysis. All three researchers read through the posts independently, developed categories based on recurring topics, and refined those categories through ongoing discussion. Four main themes emerged: information seeking, vaccine hesitancy, regulation and public policy, and concerns about family members’ contact with the newborn.

The In-Law Problem Nobody Talks About

Of all the findings, the intensity of family conflict stood out most. Posts about pushback from relatives made up the largest single subtheme in the dataset. Women described pleading with anti-vaccine family members, negotiating with partners whose parents refused to comply, and feeling completely alone in trying to protect their babies before they were even born.

One poster wrote: “I don’t feel comfortable with having anyone around my baby who doesn’t have the tdap vaccine. Whooping cough is no joke, and my obgyn recommends everyone who is going to be around my daughter should get it. My family has agreed, but my partners family is really anti vaxx.” (p. 8)

Another described the situation with a mother-in-law who initially agreed to get vaccinated but then reversed course: “She said she’ll wear a mask if that makes me more comfortable but she will not be getting a shot. My husband and I are so frustrated.”

Researchers noted that this conflict was made worse by confusing public health messaging. Adults are generally advised to get the Tdap booster once every 10 years. Some posters also said insurance would not cover another shot for relatives who had received Tdap within the past 10 years. When pregnant women asked family members to get another dose even though they had been vaccinated recently, relatives often pointed to standard CDC guidance, which says adults who are already up to date do not need another shot before the usual interval. That gap in messaging, between what’s recommended for the general public and what’s recommended around a newborn, caused genuine conflict in households.

Whooping Cough Vaccine Conversations Are Being Missed at the Doctor’s Office

Beyond family conflict, many posts pointed to a breakdown in communication between pregnant women and their healthcare providers. Women described asking their doctors direct questions about the vaccine and receiving vague or confusing answers. In at least one documented case, a woman reported being told the decision was simply “up to her.” Others who switched providers mid-pregnancy described receiving inconsistent or no guidance as a result.

One Reddit user wrote: “My provider hasn’t offered the tdap vaccine to me yet and I’m 36 weeks pregnant… was reading that tdap is usually offered by now and with my baby being due soon… Is it too late to get it now?”

Another described being caught between two providers giving different instructions: “My previous provider led me to believe that, since a booster is recommended every 10 years… I have a new provider, and she’s saying all my family and friends will need to be boosted again, even though they already have been in the past 2 years.”

Research cited in the paper estimates that only about two-thirds of healthcare providers, approximately 66.7%, report giving timely Tdap recommendations to pregnant patients. A doctor’s recommendation is consistently one of the strongest predictors of whether someone gets vaccinated, so that gap has real consequences.

Fear, Side Effects, and the Unknown

Vaccine hesitancy did appear in the dataset, though researchers noted it was less intense than what has been documented for vaccines like the HPV shot or standard childhood immunizations. Safety concerns were prominent in posts expressing hesitancy, with worries about side effects such as nausea, chills, and other physical reactions. Some women also questioned whether the vaccine was really necessary, citing a belief that whooping cough had been largely wiped out.

There were also posts reflecting deeper anxiety about how the vaccine interacts with a developing baby. One woman wrote: “I’m pretty pro vaccination, but I’ve never heard of vaccinating a heavily pregnant woman and also having that same dose transfer into a 29 week baby still in the womb. It sounds weird and dangerous to me.”

Researchers suggested that these fears point to a health literacy problem that can’t be solved by simply providing more information. Understanding why the vaccine works the way it does, how antibodies pass from mother to baby, requires a level of explanation that many women aren’t getting from their doctors or from standard public health materials.

What Needs to Change

Study authors called on healthcare providers to take a more proactive role, recommending that doctors initiate Tdap conversations with all pregnant patients and tailor their explanations to what each patient actually understands. Public health agencies, they argued, also need to do better at communicating who needs the vaccine and when, especially amid the confusing guidance around family members and close contacts.

For pregnant women turning to Reddit to figure out whether their mother-in-law really needs a booster, or whether their own doctor gave them the right advice, a cleaner, more consistent message from both doctors and public health agencies could help close those gaps and better protect newborns.

Disclaimer: This article summarizes findings from a qualitative study based on public Reddit posts and is intended for general informational purposes only. It is not medical advice. Vaccine recommendations, including guidance on the Tdap vaccine during pregnancy and for family members of newborns, should come from a qualified healthcare provider or official public health sources such as the CDC.

---