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Control of pertussis in infants: time has finally come?
1Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, FCM da Santa Casa de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Insights
Maternal pertussis vaccination (Tdap) is recommended to protect infants too young for immunization. Recent data show promising uptake, safety, and effectiveness, offering hope for controlling infant pertussis.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Immunology
- Public Health
Background:
- Infants are most vulnerable to severe pertussis (whooping cough) and its complications.
- Existing immunization programs and indirect protection strategies have not fully controlled infant pertussis.
- Young infants cannot receive the primary pertussis vaccine series, leaving them unprotected.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the uptake, safety, and effectiveness of maternal Tdap vaccination programs.
- To assess the impact of maternal immunization on pertussis disease rates in infants.
- To determine if maternal Tdap vaccination can effectively control pertussis in vulnerable infants.
Main Methods:
- Review of recent data on maternal Tdap vaccination programs.
- Analysis of vaccine uptake, safety profiles, and effectiveness in preventing infant pertussis.
- Examination of disease incidence trends in infants following program implementation.
Main Results:
- Maternal Tdap vaccination programs show encouraging uptake rates.
- The vaccine demonstrates a favorable safety profile in pregnant individuals.
- Evidence suggests effectiveness in reducing pertussis incidence and severity in young infants.
Conclusions:
- Maternal Tdap vaccination is a viable strategy to protect infants from pertussis.
- These programs represent a significant advancement in controlling pertussis in this high-risk group.
- Continued monitoring and implementation are crucial for sustained public health impact.
Abstract:
Despite the success of routine immunization programs against pertussis worldwide, control of the disease in young infants has never been achieved. The greatest risk of disease, hospitalization and death occur in infants, who are too young to have received the primary pertussis immunization course. Different interventions to provide indirect protection to infants were recommended, including vaccination programs with Tdap for adolescents, adults, postpartum women and household contacts of infants, but all of them failed to effectively control the disease in infants. Based on the successful experience of maternal tetanus vaccination, and more recently influenza vaccination, maternal Tdap vaccine has been universally recommended since 2011/2012 in several countries to prevent pertussis in infants. The recent publication of data on the uptake, safety and effectiveness of these programs, as well as impact on disease rates in infants is encouraging, anticipating the possibility to at last control pertussis in this vulnerable age group.
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