- Janice Hopkins Tanne
- New York
Rates of whooping cough (pertussis) are rising in the US as fewer children are being vaccinated.
Official data showed 35 493 cases of the disease in the US in 2024, a fivefold increase from 7063 in 2023. In the first three months of 2025 alone 6600 cases were recorded.1
Outbreaks of the potentially deadly respiratory infection have been reported in Texas, Florida, California, Oregon, and other states. State data showed that Texas reported 1928 cases of pertussis in 2024, but by October 2025 it had more than 3500.
The increase in prevalence has come hand in hand with falling uptake of the whooping cough vaccine, in a trend experts warn is being driven by antivaccination misinformation and laws that make it easier for parents to …
