Falling Vaccination Rates are Likley Behind Rise in Whooping Cough Cases
Whooping cough (pertussis) is on the rise, and medical experts are linking the surge to falling vaccination rates.
According to official data cited in the BMJ, there was a fivefold increase between 2023 and 2024, with the number of reported cases jumping from 7,063 to 35,493. This trend has continued in 2025, with states such as Texas, Florida, California, and Oregon reporting outbreaks.
In Texas, for example, over 3,500 incidents were reported during the 10-month period from January to October 2025, according to the study. That is almost double (1,928 cases) the number reported in the entirety of last year.
Jennifer Duchon, MD, MPH, Hospital epidemiologist and director of Antimicrobial Stewardship for Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital and associate professor (Pediatrics) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, explains the uptick in cases “is directly related to waning vaccination administration and acceptance.”
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What Is Whooping Cough?
Whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory disease that can be spread from person to person through aerosol droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DHS), the initial symptoms are very similar to the common cold, but an aggressive cough may develop after 1 to 2 weeks. These violent coughing fits can make it hard to breathe and may last for two months or more — hence the nickname, the 100-day cough.
In the initial stages, additional symptoms include a runny nose, mild fever, and apnea (a pause in breathing) — the latter is more common in very young children. As the disease progresses and becomes more severe, symptoms may include vomiting and coughing fits, followed by a distinctive whooping sound.
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes, whooping cough is common in the U.S., and outbreaks do occur frequently. But while the illness tends to be less severe in adults, teens, and those who have been vaccinated, it can cause severe complications in babies under a year old and individuals with certain pre-existing health conditions, such as severe asthma.
According to the Texas DHS, around one-third of babies with whooping cough will require hospital treatment. In 2012, 18 deaths were reported as a consequence of whooping cough, according to a study from the NIH.
The Role Of Vaccines
Before the introduction of the vaccine in the 1940s, whooping cough was a major cause of childhood mortality, resulting in around 9,000 deaths a year, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
Thanks to the widespread adoption of the vaccine, annual cases of the disease plummeted 99 percent, from more than 200,000 cases of pertussis a year during the early 20th century to under 2,000 cases reported in 1980, according to the CDC.
“Pertussis vaccine doesn’t prevent the disease, but it prevents severe disease,” says Duchon.
However, as cases of whooping cough rise, there have been reports of mortality — earlier this year (2025), there were reports of two deaths in Louisiana, according to a second BMJ study. The death of a school-aged child in North Dakota and an adult in Idaho has also been reported.
“The decisions that you make about vaccine-preventable diseases are personal choices to some degree, but they’re affecting public health,” Duchon adds. “Vaccination prevents disease not only in your family, in yourself, but it can help protect patients who cannot get vaccinated either by virtue of their age or by virtue of the fact that they have a condition where they can’t. So you’re helping to protect the most vulnerable among us by making that decision.”
This is echoed by the CDC, which states: “The best way to prevent whooping cough is to get vaccinated. CDC recommends whooping cough vaccination for everyone.”
This article is not offering medical advice and should be used for informational purposes only.
Read More: Whooping Cough Is Increasing in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic
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