Risk of vaccine failure after
Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) combination vaccines
with acellular pertussis
J McVernon
a,b*, N Andrews a,
MPE Slack c and M E Ramsay
a
Abstract
An increase in invasive Hib disease incidence in the UK has
coincided with the distribution of combination vaccines that contain
acellular pertussis (DTaP-Hib). These vaccines have been associated
with reduced immunogenicity of the Hib component, although there is
little agreement on the clinical relevance of this finding. We
retrospectively compared vaccine formulations given to fully
vaccinated Hib cases with those administered to fully immunised
age-matched controls using conditional logistic regression. More
cases than controls received all three doses of their infant primary
course as DTaP-Hib, compared with two or three doses of another Hib
vaccine (conditional odds ratio 6·77 [95% CI 3·2614·07]).
Affiliations a Immunisation Division,
Health Protection Agency Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, Colindale,
London, UK. b Oxford Vaccine Group,
University of Oxford Department of Paediatrics, Oxford, UK. c Health Protection Agency
Haemophilus Reference Unit, Oxford, UK.
* Correspondence to: Dr Jodie McVernon, Immunisation Division,
Health Protection Agency, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, London NW9 5EQ, UK
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