Maternal Vaccination Reduces Whopping Cough

According to an Original Investigation, maternal Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis Vaccine (Tdap) vaccination reduces pertussis burden in infants (2 months).

The JAMA Pediatrics published the findings of this ecologic study of 57,460 pertussis cases on February 6, 2023, concluding there was a significant difference between pertussis incidence rate differences between the pre–maternal and post–maternal Tdap vaccination periods.

There were about 19,000 cases of pertussis in infants under two months of age during the study period.

These findings by researchers with the Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that maternal Tdap vaccination should be encouraged by healthcare providers.

Despite the apparent protection Tdap vaccination provides, only 55% of pregnant women were vaccinated in 2019.

“Getting Tdap during pregnancy offers infants the best protection before they are old enough to receive their whooping cough vaccines,” commented José Romero, M.D., FAAP, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, in a press release on February 6, 2023.

“This protection is critical because those first few months are when infants are most likely to have serious complications, be hospitalized, or die if they get whooping cough.”

The CDC initially recommended that pregnant women receive a pertussis-containing vaccine to protect both mothers and their infants in 2011.

After a woman receives Tdap, her body creates protective antibodies and passes them to her baby before birth. 

Whooping cough is a serious disease that can be deadly for babies. Unfortunately, babies do not start building their protection against whooping cough until they get vaccinated at two months old.

According to the CDC, this leaves babies unprotected in the first months of life when they are at the highest risk of getting very sick if they get whooping cough.

Disclosures: These researchers did not disclose any industry conflicts of interest.