Antenatal vaccination to decrease pertussis in infants: safety, effectiveness, timing, and implementation

Pertussis remains a serious global health issue in infants aged less than 6 months. Neonates and young infants have the highest risk of developing pertussis as they are too young to be vaccinated and thus are more likely to develop more severe pertussis-related complications, including death. Protecting this vulnerable age population from pertussis is considered a main priority in many national health programs. Two vaccine strategies exist to protect infants from pertussis: “cocooning” and maternal vaccination during pregnancy. The latter is the more recent and preferred strategy, which protects newborns by passive transplacental transfer of pertussis antibodies. We review the reported evidence on the safety, effectiveness, timing and implementation of this antenatal immunization strategy.