Pertussis Rebounds Across Europe as Infant Risk Rises With Falling Immunity and Maternal Vaccine Uptake
Nov 5, 10:22am

Pertussis (whooping cough) is rebounding across Europe in 2025, with infants at the highest risk due to falling immunity and declining maternal vaccine uptake. Here’s a summary of the key points:

Current Situation in Europe

  • The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has urged countries to boost routine vaccine coverage and especially promote maternal pertussis vaccination during the late second or third trimester. Maternal immunization is highly effective in protecting newborns, who are too young to be vaccinated themselves.
  • Several European countries, including Finland, have recently introduced or extended maternal vaccination programs to combat rising case rates. For example, Finland launched a dTap booster campaign for pregnant women in August 2024, extending it through April 2025 due to persistently high pertussis cases.
  • Despite these efforts, uptake of maternal pertussis immunization remains suboptimal in many countries, with significant geographical variation. For instance, in England, uptake fell from 74.7% in 2017 to 58.9% in 2024, but rebounded to 72.6% by March 2025.

Why Is This Happening?

  • The resurgence is linked to several factors: waning immunity from childhood vaccines, reduced circulation of Bordetella pertussis during the COVID-19 pandemic, and declining maternal vaccine uptake. The latter is particularly critical, as maternal antibodies provide essential early protection for infants.
  • Vaccine hesitancy, lack of awareness, and challenges in accessing vaccination—especially in the post-pandemic period—have also contributed to lower uptake.

What Can Be Done?

  • Experts emphasize the need for clear messaging, education of healthcare professionals, and improved surveillance to monitor vaccine uptake and effectiveness. Next-generation pertussis vaccines are also in development, which may offer more flexible immunization strategies in the future.

Visual Summary

Causes of pertussis resurgence illustrated in a circular diagram. Center features a person coughing. Surrounding segments include waning immunity, insufficient vaccine efficacy, incomplete coverage, improved diagnostic tools, pathogen evolution, and rising incidence of other bordetellae.
Main strategies to address pertussis resurgence are depicted in six panels: maternal immunization with a pregnant woman, booster doses with a child, development of new vaccines with a syringe and virus illustration, enhancement of surveillance with a group of people, increase of vaccine coverage with a person and syringe, and reduction of drug resistance with pills.

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Nov 5, 10:22am

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