Publication

Sustained effectiveness of the maternal pertussis immunization program in England 3 years following introduction

Authored by:

Amirthalingam G, Campbell H, Ribeiro S et al.

Full Citation:

Amirthalingam G, Campbell H, Ribeiro S et al. 2016. Sustained effectiveness of the maternal pertussis immunization program in England 3 years following introduction. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 63 (Suppl 4).

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Additional key concepts from this publication:

Maternal immunization offers an opportunity to protect the mother and fetus, but also passes this protection on to the infant after birth.

Key Evidence: Vaccinating pregnant women against pertussis at least one week before delivery was found to be 91% effective in preventing the disease in infants <3 months old and 95% effective in preventing infant deaths in a study conducted in England over a 3-year period following the introduction of dTap-IPV vaccine for pregnant women. Of the 37 deaths from pertussis in infants that occurred in England from 2009 to 2015, 32 (86%) were in infants <2 months of age, highlighting the vulnerability of very young infants to severe pertussis. All but 2 of the deaths in <2 month olds were in children whose mothers hadn’t been vaccinated against pertussis during their pregnancy, while in the 2 other cases, the vaccination occurred too late in the pregnancy (<10 days before the birth).