Immunogenicity and Safety of a 2 + 1 DTPa Priming Schedule in Australian Infants and the Impact of Maternally Derived Antibodies on Pertussis Antibody Responses up to 4 Years of Age

Sonia M McAlister; Alexandra Dierig; Anita H J van den Biggelaar; Ruth Thornton; Matthew N Cooper; Peter McIntyre; Peter C Richmond; Nicholas Wood

doi:10.1093/jpids/piaf067

Immunogenicity and Safety of a 2 + 1 DTPa Priming Schedule in Australian Infants and the Impact of Maternally Derived Antibodies on Pertussis Antibody Responses up to 4 Years of Age

J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2025 Aug 27;14(8):piaf067. doi: 10.1093/jpids/piaf067.

Authors

Sonia M McAlister^{1

2}, Alexandra Dierig³, Anita H J van den Biggelaar^{1

2}, Ruth Thornton^{1

4}, Matthew N Cooper^{1

4}, Peter McIntyre^{3

5

6}, Peter C Richmond^{1

2

7}, Nicholas Wood^{3

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines & Infectious Disease, The Kids Research Institute Australia, Perth Children's Hospital, 15 Hospital Avenue, Nedlands, 6009, WA, Australia.
² School of Medicine, The University of Western Australia, Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre, 17 Monash Avenue, Nedlands, 6009, WA, Australia.
³ National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, Westmead, NSW, Australia.
⁴ Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁵ The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Westmead, NSW, Australia.
⁶ The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁷ Perth Children's Hospital, Child and Adolescent Health Service, Western Australia Department of Health, WA, Australia.

PMID: 40795273
DOI: 10.1093/jpids/piaf067

Abstract

We assessed the impact of maternally derived pertussis antibodies on infant responses to a 2 + 1 vaccine schedule (6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 12 months). Infants with baseline antibodies showed lower IgG responses following the primary vaccination series, but this did not impair booster responses at 4 years of age. Clinical Trials: The study is registered on the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry - www.anzctr.org.au (Part 1: ACTRN12615000898550, Part 2: ACTRN12622001216707).

Keywords: immune interference; immunogenicity; infant immunization; pertussis; safety.

Plain language summary

Infants with detectable maternally derived pertussis antibodies at baseline had lower antibody responses following an accelerated 2 + 1 infant vaccine schedule (6 weeks, 12 weeks and 12 months old). However, this did not impair responses to a 4-year-old booster diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine.

© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.

Publication types

Controlled Clinical Trial

MeSH terms

Antibodies, Bacterial* / blood
Antibodies, Bacterial* / immunology
Australia
Bordetella pertussis / immunology
Child, Preschool
Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular Pertussis Vaccines* / administration & dosage
Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular Pertussis Vaccines* / adverse effects
Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular Pertussis Vaccines* / immunology
Female
Humans
Immunity, Maternally-Acquired*
Immunization Schedule*
Immunization, Secondary
Immunoglobulin G / blood
Infant
Male
Pertussis Vaccine* / administration & dosage
Pertussis Vaccine* / immunology
Whooping Cough* / immunology
Whooping Cough* / prevention & control

Substances

Antibodies, Bacterial
Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular Pertussis Vaccines
Immunoglobulin G
Pertussis Vaccine

Grants and funding

2012-083/Foundation for Children