BEAR PAW
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Babies born Early Antibody Response to Men B vaccination: Pertussis (whooping cough) Antibody after Whooping cough vaccination in pregnancy
IRAS ID
265636
Contact name
Paul Heath
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
St George's, University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 2 days
Research summary
Whooping cough vaccination has been recommended routinely for pregnant women in the UK since 2012 and is currently being offered at 16-32 weeks of pregnancy. This programme has been shown to be safe and effective but there continues to be debate about the best time for the vaccination to be given for the optimum protection of the infant at birth. This uncertainty is particularly important for preterm infants who may benefit least from maternal vaccination because of reduced time for the antibody (protective protein) to pass from the mother to the infant.
This study provides the opportunity to investigate the impact of timing of whooping cough vaccination on antibody concentration in infants born before 35 gestational weeks at two important time points: at the age of 5 months, following primary vaccination, and at 12 months of age in a population of babies whose mothers will have been offered vaccination at a broad range of gestational ages (16-32 weeks).
This study will use residual samples collected as part of the BEAR Men B study (Babies born Early Antibody Response to Men B vaccination) in order to investigate whooping cough specific antibody in preterm infants. As we are using a multiplex assay we will also be able to measure the concentration of diphtheria and tetanus toxoid in this population following vaccination in pregnancy with a combined vaccine.
REC name
West Midlands - Edgbaston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/WM/0198
Date of REC Opinion
20 Jun 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion