News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Health officials have suspected a drop-off in protection from the childhood acellular pertussis vaccine as one factor in surging disease levels, and new data today on Minnesota and Oregon kids provide the strongest evidence yet that immunity wanes before they get a booster dose at age 11 or 12.

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers in other countries have found evidence that circulating strains of Bordetella pertussis have adapted to the acellular vaccine, and researchers today reported similar findings for the first time in US kids, based on genetic analysis of isolates from hospitalized children.

(CIDRAP News) – Coverage rates for vaccines recommended for adults remain stubbornly low, except for modest gains in two, the diphtheria with acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap) and the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in women, according to new federal estimates today.

(CIDRAP News) – The largest study so far exploring gaps in acellular pertussis vaccine protection in kids found that their risk of getting sick increased as time passed after the final dose, according to researchers who examined the role of the vaccine during California's 2010 pertussis epidemic.