The Impact of Early Postpartum Maternal Pertussis Vaccination on the Protection of Infants: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Despite primary vaccination, infants under six months run a risk of infection with pertussis.

To determine the impact of early postpartum maternal pertussis vaccination on protecting infants from the disease.

All mothers (n=405) who gave birth to healthy term infants were educated on the cocoon strategy. The mothers who consented were immunized with the tetanus-diphtheriaacellular pertussis vaccine within the first three postpartum days. All infants received their pertussis vaccines according to the national schedule. The anti-pertussis IgG titers of infants of thirty vaccinated mothers were compared with those of thirty unvaccinated mothers.

The pertussis antibody levels in the infants of vaccinated mothers were significantly higher than those of unvaccinated mothers at the mean infant age of 5.6 ± 1.2 months. Only 6 infants of vaccinated mothers exhibited pertussis-like symptoms, none of whom had positive pertussis PCR. Seventeen infants of unvaccinated mothers had pertussis-like symptoms, and 4 tested positive for pertussis PCR.

Our results showed that maternal pertussis vaccination, administered within the first three postpartum days, may protect infants against pertussis in their first ten months.