Pertussis vaccine effectiveness and duration of protection-A systematic review and meta-analysis

A comprehensive review of observational pertussis vaccine effectiveness (VE) studies is needed to update gaps from previous reviews. We conducted a systematic review of VE and duration of protection studies for the whole-cell (wP) and acellular (aP) pertussis vaccines and conducted a formal meta -analysis using random effects models. Evidence continues to suggest that receipt of any pertussis vac-cine confers protection in the short-term against disease although this protection wanes rapidly for aP vaccine. We detected significant heterogeneity in pooled estimates due, in part, to factors such as bias and confounding which may be mitigated by study design. Our review of possible sources of hetero-geneity may help interpretation of other VE studies and aid design decisions in future pertussis VE research. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.