Maternal Pertussis Vaccination During Pregnancy Benefits Infants During First Year of Life

Despite widespread use of pertussis-containing vaccines, pertussis continues to circulate, causing cough illness in older children and adults and severe disease, sometimes death, in young infants. Previous studies demonstrate that infants are protected by even a single diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccine dose (NEJM JW Pediatr Adolesc Med Jul 2015 and Pediatrics 2015; 135:990) and that maternal vaccination with tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid, and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine provides the most benefit when administered during the third trimester (NEJM JW Pediatr Adolesc Med Oct 5 2016 [e-pub] and Clin Infect Dis 2017; 64:3). However, concerns have been raised about the potential for transplacental mate…