Although the California pertussis outbreak has raised the urgency of these recommendations, the ACIP has actually been working on increasing pertussis immunization for at least 2 years, working group chair Dr. Mark H. Sawyer said in an interview.
“The main idea of all of this is to free up people's ability to receive vaccine in special circumstances, such as an outbreak. … But this was already on our agenda. Pertussis has been a recognized problem for some time now. The California outbreak just illuminated its importance. But it's not unique to California. Other states are having significant problems with pertussis,” said Dr. Sawyer, professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego.
As a CDC employee, Dr. Liang has no financial conflicts. Dr. Harriman and Dr. Sawyer also stated that they had no financial conflicts.