CDC: DTaP Vaccine 95.4% Effective in Young Children During Alaska Statewide Pertussis Outbreak
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a study in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), Vol. 75, No. 40, on October 15, 2026 (report mm7540a1), evaluating the effectiveness of diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) in children aged 6 months to 6 years during a statewide pertussis outbreak in Alaska from May to November 2024. Pertussis is also known as whooping cough and is caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis.
The study compared case-patients and control children from the statewide outbreak, with children who had received three DTaP doses in the primary series counted as fully vaccinated. It found DTaP vaccine effectiveness of 95.4% in this age group.
The study also found that unvaccinated children were more than 13 times as likely to be infected with pertussis as vaccinated children, based on the case-control analysis from the same outbreak period.
The report leads the October 15, 2026 issue of MMWR. The outbreak covered the state of Alaska between May and November 2024, and the study population was children aged 6 months to 6 years. Source: CDC MMWR, Vol. 75, No. 40 (mm7540a1).
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: CDC Public Health Image Library / Public domain，via Wikimedia Commons（资料图：百日咳杆菌显微染色图）
