**3.1. Newborns**

The increased incidence of whooping cough in countries with high vaccine coverage is alarming, with rates only previously seen in 1950. The protection of newborns is urgently needed, especially during the period between birth and the first dose of the vaccine [10].

Vaccination in newborns is not an option at the present time, both due to the immaturity of the immune system of the newborn and its weak response to the vaccine. Besides these factors, the vaccine against pertussis may also interfere with the newborn's response to the hepatitis B vaccine. For the protection of the newborn, we currently can resort to three related strategies: cocooning, booster schedule, and vaccination of pregnant women [10, 42].
