History also warns us: what we neglect, we risk reliving.
By Matthew A. McIntosh
Public Historian
Brewminate
Introduction
After years of relative silence, a familiar cough is beginning to echo once more across the United States. Whooping cough, or pertussis, is making a troubling comeback. Long considered a disease of the past—a relic defeated by modern vaccination—it is now reasserting itself in communities across the country. The resurgence is not merely a statistical anomaly but a symptom of deeper fractures in our public health infrastructure, vaccine confidence, and collective memory.
A Dangerous Disease with a Misleading Name
Whooping cough may sound quaint, even benign, to modern ears. The very name evokes something almost whimsical—a “whoop” in a nursery rhyme. But the disease is anything but harmless. Caused by the Bordetella pertussis bacterium, it is a vicious respiratory infection marked by prolonged bouts of uncontrollable coughing, often followed by a characteristic “whoop” sound as the patient gasps for breath.
In infants, it can be fatal. In older children and adults, it can lead to weeks or even months of paroxysmal coughing fits that disrupt sleep, cause vomiting, break ribs, and in some cases, result in hospitalization. Before the vaccine era, whooping cough routinely killed thousands of children each year. Thanks to aggressive immunization campaigns in the mid-20th century, those numbers dropped to near-zero. But now, the pendulum is swinging back.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. has recorded over 8,400 cases of pertussis so far in 2025—a sharp increase from just over 4,200 during the same period in 2024. Some regions are reporting triple the expected case count. States such as California, Texas, and Michigan have reported localized outbreaks in schools and daycare centers, triggering emergency responses and renewed calls for vaccination.
This is not an isolated phenomenon. Europe has also seen a wave of pertussis outbreaks this year, with the U.K. recording its highest numbers in over a decade. But in the United States, the resurgence intersects with a unique—and troubling—set of sociopolitical dynamics.
The Post-Pandemic Vaccine Crisis
It is impossible to discuss the return of whooping cough without grappling with the broader erosion of vaccine confidence following the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past five years, public health agencies have faced unprecedented levels of skepticism, fueled by misinformation campaigns, political polarization, and social media echo chambers. Vaccines, once hailed as triumphant tools of modern science, have become ideological flashpoints.
As a result, childhood vaccination rates—particularly for the DTaP vaccine (which protects against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis)—have fallen below the herd immunity threshold in multiple counties across the country. The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that in some regions, DTaP coverage has dropped below 85%, a critical danger zone.
It is no coincidence, then, that diseases like pertussis, measles, and mumps are staging a comeback. Immunity gaps in communities act like dry tinder in a forest. It only takes a single spark—one infected traveler, one missed dose—for an outbreak to ignite.
Waning Immunity and the Booster Problem
Even among those who are vaccinated, there are structural issues that contribute to pertussis’s return. Immunity from the acellular pertussis vaccine (used in the U.S. since the 1990s due to fewer side effects than its whole-cell predecessor) wanes over time. Adults and adolescents often fail to receive recommended booster doses, leaving them vulnerable—and, more dangerously, contagious.
Adults may contract a mild case and unknowingly transmit it to unvaccinated infants, for whom the disease can be deadly. This has prompted calls for a national booster awareness campaign, particularly targeting new parents, grandparents, teachers, and healthcare workers.
Public Health’s Fragile Authority
The reemergence of whooping cough is not just a medical issue; it is a mirror reflecting our frayed social contract. Public health operates on trust and cooperation. When that trust erodes, the system falters. Diseases once thought vanquished return, not because we lack the tools to prevent them, but because we fail to use them.
In many ways, pertussis is the perfect case study. It is a vaccine-preventable disease with a known mechanism of spread, an established vaccine schedule, and decades of data confirming efficacy. Its resurgence should never have happened—and yet it is happening. Why? Because public health has been politicized, underfunded, and often scapegoated by those seeking to score ideological points.
A Call to Remember
Whooping cough’s resurgence is a wake-up call. It challenges our complacency and urges us to remember the not-so-distant past when children died of diseases now preventable. It reminds us that scientific progress is not irreversible. Public health victories must be continually defended, reinforced not just by policy but by public will.
In the face of rising cases, the solution remains clear: vaccination, education, and collective responsibility. We must ensure that booster schedules are followed, that healthcare providers are equipped to diagnose and report pertussis, and that misinformation is aggressively countered with facts. History has shown that we are capable of defeating pertussis. But history also warns us: what we neglect, we risk reliving.
Originally published by Brewminate, 06.25.2025, under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.
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