In states reporting 2019 data, more than 75% of counties and jurisdictions showed declining DTaP vaccination rates. In Texas, about 85% of counties saw declines.
The decline comes as several states report significant increases in whooping cough cases.
Texas reported more than 3,500 cases through October, about four times more than the same period last year. according to the state health department. The state saw a surge late last year, and experts said they expect to see the same thing this year.
In Oregon the state saw there were 1,475 cases recorded for the year as of December 10.exceeding the previous maximum observed in 1950. The Oregon Health Authority reported one child has died from whooping cough this year, the first since 2012.
“Although infant deaths from whooping cough are rare, this underscores our focus on protecting infants,” an Oregon Health Authority spokesperson wrote in an email. “About a third of children who get whooping cough must be hospitalized, and one in 100 will die.”
Since September 2024, there have been at least six other pertussis-related childhood deaths reported in the United States: two in Louisiana, one in South Dakota and three in Kentucky.
“When we see these [deaths] … they can be prevented. And when I say preventable, they are completely preventable. We don't have to deal with that,” said Dr. Rafael Mattamal, a pediatrician at Texas Tech Pediatrics in Amarillo.
Sophie Owens said she has no idea how Felina became infected. The whole family — Sophie, Justin and their eldest daughter Briley were vaccinated against bacteria that cause whooping cough. Felina was too young to receive vaccinations when she became ill.
Sophie had the vaccine when she was pregnant. Pregnant women are advised to do this in the third trimester to give their babies some level of protection at birth – when they are most vulnerable to whooping cough – and before they become eligible for vaccinations themselves.
However, this protection is not 100%.
“If there is enough adequate protection in the community, these things don't spread,” Mattamal said. This extra layer of community protection is especially important when it comes to protecting people who cannot yet be vaccinated, like Felina.
Whooping cough often begins in the same way as other typical winter illnesses: a runny nose, a slight cough, and sometimes a slight fever.
Severe coughing attacks usually follow. They can be so severe that they can break ribs and cause lung collapse. Babies are most vulnerable because their tiny airways cannot withstand the pressure.
The cough can last for weeks or even months. People are contagious from the time symptoms appear until three weeks after the first coughing attack begins.
“It can still be in the air after someone has left the room, especially if they have been coughing a lot,” Mattamal said. “It doesn’t take a lot of bacterial particles to catch it.”
Many people, especially adults, do not know they are infected and continue to unknowingly spread the bacteria. A small study published in 1995 found that 20% of people who went to the emergency department with a cough lasting two to three weeks actually had whooping cough.
There is no specific treatment for the infection. Antibiotics, such as azithromycin or Z-Pak, may be prescribed to help remove bacteria from the nasal passages so that patients cannot spread the disease as easily.
“Surge in whooping cough cases”
In the 1920s, before the introduction of the whooping cough vaccine, there were about 200,000 cases of the disease each year in the United States, but that number dropped to between 1,000 and 5,000 in the 1970s and 1980s.
But the number of cases in the U.S. has been rising steadily since the late 1990s and early 2000s, with 6,000 to 9,000 cases of whooping cough being diagnosed annually, according to data. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The incidence has decreased during the pandemic, but then abruptly left.
