Abstract
The effectiveness of maternal immunization in preventing infant pertussis was first demonstrated in England, 1 year after the program using diphtheria–tetanus–5-component acellular pertussis–inactivated polio vaccine (dT5aP-IPV) was introduced in 2012. Vaccine effectiveness against laboratory-confirmed pertussis has been sustained >90% in the 3 years following its introduction, despite changing to another acellular vaccine with different antigen composition. Consistent with this, disease incidence in infants <3 months of age has remained low despite high activity persisting in those aged 1 year and older. Vaccine effectiveness against infant deaths was estimated at 95% (95% confidence interval, 79%–100%). Additional protection from maternal immunization is retained in infants who received their first dose of the primary series. There is no longer evidence of additional protection from maternal vaccination after the third infant dose. Although numbers are small and ongoing assessment is required, there is no evidence of increased risk of disease after primary immunization in infants whose mothers received maternal vaccination.
Highlights
Pertussis resurgences have been reported in recent years from a number of countries with longstanding vaccination programs
Maternal pertussis vaccination was introduced in the United Kingdom in 2012 in response to the highest number of infant deaths observed for more than a decade
One potential explanation is that the increase in coverage coincides with the timing of the seasonal influenza vaccination program for pregnant women
Summary
Pertussis resurgences have been reported in recent years from a number of countries with longstanding vaccination programs. In the United Kingdom, an emergency program to offer pertussis vaccination to pregnant women was introduced in October 2012, in response to a rise in hospitalizations and deaths among unimmunized infants
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