https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4344-9567
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ABSTRACT
Background: The high coverage for ≥3 pertussis vaccine doses among Taiwanese children might not imply timely vaccination. Recently, resurgence of pertussis and challenges with availability of DTaP-IPV-Hib prompted this study.
Methods: In the 1996–2012 national birth cohort, we calculated the prevalence and days of undervaccination against pertussis by age 36 months. We also compared the odds of undervaccination in each laboratory-confirmed pertussis patient at ages 3–35 months with sex-, residence-, and age-matched controls from the general population, using conditional logistic regression.
Results: The prevalence of undervaccination was 60.6% (median 16 days) and decreasing (p < 0.0001). Among 145 cases and 2,900 controls, 58 (40.0%) and 721 (24.9%) were undervaccinated (OR 2.28, 95% CI 1.57–3.31). The attributable risk percent was 22.5% (95% CI 14.5–27.9).
Conclusions: Undervaccination was decreasing. Approximately up to one-fifth pertussis cases in children aged 3–35 months could have been prevented with on-time vaccination.
Abbreviations
| CI | = | confidence interval |
| DTaP | = | diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine |
| DTaP-IPV-Hib | = | diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis, inactivated polio, and Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine |
| DTwP | = | diphtheria, tetanus, and whole-cell pertussis vaccine |
| NIIS | = | National Immunization Information System |
| OR | = | odds ratio |
| PCR | = | polymerase chain reaction |
Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank staff from the National Immunization Information System and Office of Information Technology, Taiwan Centers for Disease Control, for their support in data coordination.
Funding
This work was supported by Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (http://www.cdc.gov.tw). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, or preparation of the draft manuscript; but participated in review, approval, and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Author contributions
Conceived and design the experiments: WTH. Performed the experiment: WTH. Analyzed the data: WTH. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: WTH CHY. Wrote the first draft of the manuscript: WTH. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: WTH HCL CHY. Agree with manuscript results and conclusions: WTH HCL CHY.