Pertussis Vaccine | CDC EID

EID Journal Home > Volume 16, Number 8–August 2010

Volume 16, Number 8–August 2010
Historical Review
Pearl Kendrick, Grace Eldering, and the Pertussis Vaccine
Carolyn G. Shapiro-Shapin
Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan, USA



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Abstract
In light of the reemergence of pertussis (whooping cough), the pioneering research of Pearl Kendrick and Grace Eldering is worth revisiting. In the 1930s, working in the Michigan Department of Health laboratory in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, they began researching a pertussis vaccine. Their research offers an instructive case study of the creative public health research performed in state health department laboratories during the interwar years. State department of health laboratory directors actively promoted research by supporting advanced education; making facilities and funding available for individual projects; and, when possible, procuring new facilities. Using Michigan Department of Health resources and local and federal funding, Kendrick and Eldering developed standardized diagnostic tools; modified and improved extant vaccines; conducted the first successful, large-scale, controlled clinical trial of pertussis vaccine; and participated in international efforts to standardize and disseminate the vaccine. Their model may again offer a promising avenue for groundbreaking research.

In light of the re-emergence of pertussis (whooping cough), the pioneering pertussis vaccine research conducted by Drs Pearl Kendrick and Grace Eldering (Figure) at the Michigan Department of Health laboratory is worth revisiting. Their pertussis research offers a model that would be useful today.

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Pertussis Vaccine | CDC EID