Pertussis and Influenza Vaccination Among Insured Pregnant Women ­ Wisconsin, 2013-2014.

On February 22, 2013, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) revised recommendations for vaccination of pregnant women to recommend tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis vaccine (Tdap) during every pregnancy, optimally at 27-36 weeks of gestation, to prevent pertussis among their newborns. Since 2004, influenza vaccination has been recommended for pregnant women in any trimester to prevent influenza and associated complications for mother and newborn. To evaluate vaccination of pregnant women in Wisconsin after the 2013 Tdap recommendation, health insurance claims data for approximately 49% of Wisconsin births were analyzed. The percentage of women who received Tdap during pregnancy increased from 13.8% of women delivering during January 2013 (63.1% of whom received Tdap 2-13 weeks before delivery) to 51.0% of women delivering during March 2014 (90.9% of whom received Tdap 2-13 weeks before delivery). Among women delivering during November 2013-March 2014, 49.4% had received influenza vaccine during pregnancy. After the 2013 recommendation, Tdap vaccination among pregnant women increased but plateaued at rates similar to influenza vaccination rates. Prenatal care providers should implement, evaluate, and improve Tdap and influenza vaccination programs, and strongly recommend that pregnant patients receive these vaccines to prevent severe illness and complications among mothers and infants.

Cost effectiveness of pertussis vaccination in adults.

BACKGROUND: Prior economic analyses have reached disparate conclusions about whether vaccinating adults against pertussis would be cost effective. Newly available data on pertussis incidence were used to evaluate the cost effectiveness of one-time adult vaccination and adult vaccination with decennial boosters. METHODS: A Markov model was used to calculate the health benefits, risks, costs, and cost effectiveness of the following strategies: (1) no adult pertussis vaccination, (2) one-time adult vaccination at 20-64 years, and (3) adult vaccination with decennial boosters. The impact of the severity of pertussis illness, vaccine adverse events, and herd immunity on model outcomes were also examined. RESULTS: At a disease incidence of 360 per 100,000, the one-time adult vaccination strategy would prevent 2.8 million cases, and the decennial vaccination strategy would prevent 8.3 million cases. As disease incidence varied from 10 to 500 per 100,000, the one-time adult vaccination strategy was projected to prevent 79,000 to 3.8 million adult pertussis cases, while the decennial vaccination program would prevent 239,000 to 11.4 million cases. A one-time adult vaccination strategy would result in 106 million people vaccinated, or approximately 64% of the adult cohort, for a total program cost of $2.1 billion, while a decennial vaccination strategy would cost $6.7 billion. The one-time and decennial booster vaccination strategies result in cost-effectiveness ratios of <$50,000 per quality-adjusted life year saved if disease incidence in adults were greater than 120 cases per 100,000 population. CONCLUSIONS: Routine vaccination of adults aged 20 to 64 years with combined tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid, and acellular pertussis is cost effective if pertussis incidence in this age group is greater than 120 per 100,000 population.

Pertussis in adolescents and adults: should we vaccinate?

BACKGROUND: The incidence of reported pertussis among adolescents, adults, and young infants has increased sharply over the past decade. Combined acellular pertussis vaccines for adolescents and adults are available in Canada, Australia, and Germany and may soon be considered for use in the United States. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the potential health benefits, risks, and costs of a national pertussis vaccination program for adolescents and/or adults. DESIGN, SETTING, AND POPULATION: The projected health states and immunity levels associated with pertussis disease and vaccination were simulated with a Markov model. The following strategies were examined from the health care payer and societal perspectives: (1) no vaccination; (2) 1-time adolescent vaccination; (3) 1-time adult vaccination; (4) adult vaccination with boosters; (5) adolescent and adult vaccination with boosters; and (6) postpartum vaccination. Data on disease incidence, costs, outcomes, vaccine efficacy, and adverse events were based on published studies, recent unpublished clinical trials, and expert panel input. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cases prevented, adverse events, costs (in 2004 US dollars), cost per case prevented, and cost per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) saved. RESULTS: One-time adolescent vaccination would prevent 30800 cases of pertussis (36% of projected cases) and would result in 91000 vaccine adverse events (67% local reactions). If pertussis vaccination cost $15 and vaccine coverage was 76%, then 1-time adolescent vaccination would cost $1100 per case prevented (or $1200 per case prevented) or $20000 per QALY (or $23000 per QALY) saved, from the societal (or health care payer) perspective. With a threshold of $50000 per QALY saved, the adolescent and adult vaccination with boosters strategy became potentially cost-effective from the societal perspective only if 2 conditions were met simultaneously, ie, (1) the disease incidence for adolescents and adults was > or =6 times higher than base-case assumptions and (2) the cost of vaccination was less than $10. Adult vaccination strategies were more costly and less effective than adolescent vaccination strategies. The results were sensitive to assumptions about disease incidence, vaccine efficacy, frequency of vaccine adverse events, and vaccine costs. CONCLUSIONS: Routine pertussis vaccination of adolescents results in net health benefits and may be relatively cost-effective.

Societal costs and morbidity of pertussis in adolescents and adults.

BACKGROUND: Since the 1980s, the reported incidence of pertussis among adolescents and adults has been steadily increasing. To understand whether the benefits of an acellular pertussis vaccine formulated for adolescents and adults might offset its costs, policy makers will need information about morbidity and societal (medical and nonmedical) costs of pertussis. METHODS: Adolescents (age, 10-17 years) and adults (age, >or=18 years) with confirmed pertussis illness were identified by the Massachusetts enhanced pertussis surveillance system. We evaluated medical costs in a cohort of patients who had confirmed pertussis during the period of January 1998 through December 2000; nonmedical costs, by means of prospective interviews, in a cohort of patients who had confirmed pertussis during the period of December 2001 through January 2003; and morbidity in both cohorts. Our main outcome measures were mean costs per case, in 2002 US dollars. RESULTS: In the analysis of medical costs, 1679 adolescents and 936 adults were found to have mean costs of 242 dollars and 326 dollars, respectively (P<.05). In interviews with 314 adolescents and 203 adults, adults had significantly higher nonmedical costs (447 dollars) than those of adolescents (155 dollars). A total of 83% of adolescents missed a mean of 5.5 days from school (range, 0.4-32 days), and 61% of adults missed a mean of 9.8 days from work (range, 0.1-180 days) because of pertussis. Thirty-eight percent of adolescents and 61% of adults were still coughing at the time of the interview, which occurred an average of 106 days and 94 days, respectively, after cough onset. CONCLUSIONS: Pertussis causes significant morbidity in and costs for adolescents and adults, with time losses comprising the largest proportion of the cost. Societal costs should be considered when making decisions about potential vaccine use in the future.