A Novel Pertussis Vaccine with a New Administration Route

The increase in pertussis cases since the early 2000s was partly attributed to the shift from whole-cell to acellular pertussis vaccines (DTaP or Tdap). BPZE1 is a novel intranasal live attenuated pertussis vaccine. To evaluate the safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy of BPZE1 against an intranasal challenge 85 days after vaccination, investigators randomized 300 adults to one of four groups: BPZE1-BPZE1 challenge, BPZE1-placebo challenge, Tdap-BPZE1 challenge, and Tdap-placebo challenge. The primary immunogenicity endpoint was achievement of a twofold increase from baseline in nasal secretory IgA to at least one pertussis antigen after one or two doses of vaccine.

BPZE1 was well tolerated, with mostly mild to moderate adverse events occurri…