Surge in Whooping Cough Sparks Urgent Call for Vaccinations
Right now, a renewed push for immunizations is being heard across Kentucky and beyond, as health officials warn about a troubling rise in whooping cough cases. This illness, also known as pertussis, has been spreading far more quickly than in recent years, and the consequences have been heartbreaking. In the past 12 months alone, three infants in Kentucky have died from the disease — the first whooping cough–related deaths the state has seen since 2018. And doctors say these losses were preventable.
What’s making experts especially concerned is that this surge is happening at a time when vaccination rates have steadily fallen. Dr. Robert Tracy, a longtime family physician at Saint Elizabeth in Northern Kentucky, says the situation has become alarming, particularly with holiday travel bringing families closer together. He explains that whooping cough is a “miserable illness,” and once the coughing fits begin, it becomes clear just how dangerous it can be, especially for babies.
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The disease itself moves through three stages. It often starts off looking exactly like the common cold — runny nose, mild fever, maybe some sniffles. Because of that, many people don’t even realize anything is wrong. But the second stage is where the real danger lies. That’s when the severe coughing spells begin, sometimes so intense that a child struggles to breathe, gasps for air, and produces the distinctive “whoop” sound the illness is named after. A lengthy recovery period follows, making it a long and exhausting illness for families to manage.
The infants who recently died in Kentucky had not received the DTaP vaccine, which protects children from diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. State health officials also noted that the mothers of the infants were not vaccinated with the recommended TDaP shot during pregnancy. These vaccines are not new — they’ve been used for decades, studied thoroughly, and shown to be very safe. Still, hesitancy has grown, and Dr. Tracy believes that general resistance to vaccines has played a major role in this rise in preventable infections.
The urgency becomes even clearer when looking at the bigger picture. Across the U.S., more than 25,000 whooping cough cases have been reported this year — well above pre-pandemic levels. Some states, like Texas and Washington, are also seeing significant spikes. Before vaccines were widely used, pertussis regularly caused hundreds of thousands of cases and thousands of child deaths each year. Thanks to immunization, those numbers dropped dramatically — but slipping vaccination rates are now opening the door for the disease to make a comeback.
Doctors are urging families not to wait. It takes about two weeks for the vaccines to offer full protection, so getting vaccinated sooner rather than later is key. For adults, a TDaP booster is recommended every ten years, and for parents-to-be, getting vaccinated during pregnancy is especially important to protect newborns in their most vulnerable months.
In short, health experts agree: whooping cough is preventable, and with cases rising again, taking action now can save lives.
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