VACCINE

JAMA • February 17, 1945
Early immunization against Pertussis
with Alum precipitated vaccine
by Wallace Sako, MD., Ph.D., W. L. Treuting, MD., MPH.,
David B. Witt, Samuel J. Nichamin
Abstract
According to the recent mortality records the majority of deaths from pertussis
occur in infants. Between 1938 and 1940 inclusive almost 67 per cent of the
10,730 deaths from whooping cough reported in the United States occurred
during the first year of life and 47 per cent of these deaths were in infants under
7 months of age (table 1 and fig. 1). The exceptionally high mortality which
pertussis exacts in the first half year of life calls for thorough investigation of
the possibility of increasing the resistance of young infants to the disease by
immunizing them shortly after birth. This procedure has been objected to chiefly
because of the belief that young infants do not possess the ability to develop
active immunity. No extensive study has been carried out, however, to establish
the earliest age at which immunity to pertussis can be acquired.
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=272944&resultClick=3
“This procedure has been objected to
chiefly because of the belief that young
infants do not possess the ability to develop
active immunity. No extensive study has
been carried out, however, to establish
the earliest age at which immunity to
pertussis can be acquired.”