Durability of a vacuum pump is prevented from degrading by suppressing abrasion of a rotor and a side plate. The vacuum pump has a hollow cylinder chamber S having an opening at an end portion of a casing body, a rotor which is rotationally driven in the cylinder chamber S, a side plate for blocking the opening of the cylinder chamber S, and a pump cover which is disposed at the opposite side to the rotor so as to sandwich the side plate between the pump cover and the rotor, and the side plate is provided with an intercommunication port which confronts a shaft hole of the rotor and intercommunicates with a space between the side plate and the pump cover.