[Health Council of the Netherlands advisory report 'Vaccination against pertussis'--time for a new vaccine].

An advisory report on vaccination against pertussis by the National Vaccination Programme Review Committee of the Health Council of the Netherlands makes recommendations on improving pertussis vaccination in the Netherlands. Since 1996, between 4000 and 8000 cases of pertussis have been reported each year, mainly in young children who have already been vaccinated. The main cause of this increase, apart from decreasing immunity in older children and adults, seems to be diminished vaccine effectiveness due to the occurrence of non-vaccine related strains of the pertussis bacterium in the Netherlands. The cellular vaccine used in the Netherlands contains low levels of the major antigens pertussis toxin and pertactin. The Health Council recommends the fastest possible transition to the use of an acellular combination vaccine. Such a vaccine will be effective and will have considerably fewer side effects than the one currently in use. The Committee recommends that research is done into the sources of pertussis infections in young infants.