Tdap Vaccine Safe for Expectant Mothers

A new research study found a high level of effectiveness (88%) for maternal Tdap vaccinations during pregnancy in preventing pertussis in infants before their first dose of DTaP.

In addition to finding a high vaccination effectiveness (VE) in the first 2 months of life (91%), this study also demonstrated that maternal Tdap vaccination confers a significant amount of protection against pertussis over the first year of life (69%), even after infants are immunized with DTaP.

Most previous studies evaluated maternal Tdap VE in infants before DTaP vaccination. This study evaluated the effectiveness of Tdap during pregnancy in relation to the first 3 doses of the DTaP vaccine.

This is important because of concerns that maternal Tdap vaccination and infant DTaP vaccination may interfere with each other, potentially leading to decreased protection for the infant.

Moreover, receipt of the Tdap vaccine in the 2 years before the current pregnancy also appeared to provide some protection from pertussis. However, the results of this study demonstrate that maternal Tdap vaccination during pregnancy provided the best protection against pertussis.

This study validates the current Centers for Disease and Control (CDC) recommendation to vaccinate with Tdap during pregnancy.

The CDC reports the widespread use of Tdap vaccination in pregnancy can result in significant decreases in pertussis, particularly in young infants before their first DTaP vaccine dose or who are protected by only 1 dose of DTaP.

Whooping cough (pertussis) is a very contagious disease that can be deadly for babies. It is spread from person to person, usually by coughing or sneezing while in close contact with others.

The CDC Vaccine Price Lists including DTaP posted here.

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: Dr Klein reports research support from GlaxoSmithKline for a separate pertussis vaccine effectiveness study. Drs Baxter and Klein have received research grants from GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi Pasteur, Merck, Pfizer, Protein Science, and MedImmune; the other authors have indicated they have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.

FUNDING: This work was supported by Kaiser Permanente.

POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Drs Baxter and Klein report potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article: the pertussis vaccines purchased by Kaiser Permanente Northern California, which are the focus of this study, were manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur; the other authors have indicated they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.