TOPLINE:

Children aged 8 weeks to 17 years who were fully vaccinated against pertussis infection according to the vaccination schedule were less likely to be hospitalised with a pertussis infection.

METHODOLOGY:

• The number of pertussis cases has surged globally following the pandemic.
• Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the effect of pertussis vaccination during childhood on pertussis-related hospitalisations among children.
• They included 3982 children aged 17 years or younger with laboratory-confirmed pertussis between January 2013 and July 2024 from Scotland.
• Vaccination status was defined on the basis of whether a child was up to date with the UK routine childhood immunisation schedule at the date of pertussis infection; participants meeting the age-appropriate schedule were classified as those who were fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated, and unvaccinated.
• Researchers assessed hospital admissions within 30 days of laboratory-confirmed pertussis infection.

TAKEAWAY:

• The odds of pertussis-related hospital admissions were 69% lower among children who were fully vaccinated than among those who were unvaccinated (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.31; 95% CI, 0.21-0.46).
• Partial vaccination was not associated with reduced odds of hospitalisations compared with no vaccination (aOR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.47-1.33).
• Among children aged 8 weeks to 1 year, those who were fully vaccinated were 88% less likely to be hospitalised with a pertussis infection than those who were unvaccinated (aOR, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.06-0.22).

IN PRACTICE:

"[The study] findings underscore the critical importance of vaccination programmes in protecting public health and reducing burden on healthcare systems," the authors wrote.

"Efforts to improve vaccine coverage, timeliness, and access, alongside addressing barriers to vaccination, are crucial in achieving optimal public health outcomes," they added.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Taimoor Hasan, Public Health Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, and was published online on October 02, 2025, in Eurosurveillance.

LIMITATIONS:

This study could not include children younger than 8 weeks due to the lack of data on maternal pertussis vaccination. Moreover, this study could not adjust for variables such as preterm birth, birth weight, breastfeeding, and maternal vaccination status. The Charlson Comorbidity Index was used as an indicator of the overall health status of children to address confounding bias, but it is validated only in the adult population.

DISCLOSURES:

The protocol, analysis, and manuscript of this study were developed during a training workshop on operational research for frontline public health practitioners attended by Hasan. The workshop was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Gastrointestinal Infections. The authors declared having no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.