Foxwell, A. RuthMcIntyre, PeterQuinn, HelenRoper, KatrinaClements, Mark2015-12-100891-3668http://hdl.handle.net/1885/66514We estimated the potential benefits of advancing the first dose of pertussis vaccine for infants from 8 to 6 weeks of age, using Australian national disease databases. Infants had notification rates 3-fold greater than the general population and accounted for 52% of recorded hospitalizations. Infants 1 and 2 months of age had notification rates 3.5 times (95% CI: 2.7-4.5) higher than infants 3 to 11 months of age. Estimation of acceleration of the vaccine to 6 weeks of age reduced average notifications, hospitalizations, and hospital bed-days by 8%, 9%, and 12%, respectively, with larger reductions in an epidemic year.Keywords: pertussis vaccine; article; Australia; dose response; drug dose escalation; drug efficacy; hospitalization; human; infant; infant mortality; pertussis; population; priority journal; vaccination; Age Factors; Australia; Disease Notification; Hospitalizatio immunization; pertussis; vaccine; whooping cough201110.1097/INF.0b013e3181f439062016-02-24