In late September 2025, Florida's count of whooping cough cases had already climbed past the total of all of 2024, a reminder that a disease humanity learned to hold back with vaccines does not retreat on its own when protection thins. The sharpest danger falls on the youngest, the infants too small to be immunized and the children whose families have chosen not to vaccinate, at the very moment the state is moving to loosen the requirements that once kept classrooms and communities protected. Pediatricians now find themselves gathering the information the state no longer shares, building their
Florida Whooping Cough Cases Surge 81% as State Moves to Repeal Vaccine Mandates
Infants and unvaccinated children face risk of severe pertussis complications, including pneumonia, seizures, brain damage, and death, as cases climb.
"We no longer know what's going on," a Florida pediatrician says of outbreak alerts
Mark
Eighty-one percent sounds enormous. What's the plain version?
Mimi
1,295 reported cases by Sept. 27 this year, against 715 in all of 2024. And the year isn't over.
Mark
Why are pediatricians linking that to the mandate repeal?
Mimi
Kindergarten vaccination already slipped to 90.6% in 2024, below the 95% experts want for highly contagious diseases. Repeal could push it lower.
Luke
Careful, though. The article shows the rise and the repeal plans side by side. It doesn't show the repeal caused the rise. The mandates haven't been removed yet, and the TDAP requirement isn't among the ones already being pulled.
Mimi
Fair. The concern is forward-looking: what happens to coverage next.
Mark
What about the alert system?
Mimi
Dr. Williams says state email alerts stopped around two years ago, so pediatricians want their own network to catch outbreaks sooner.
Luke
That's her account. The state hasn't responded yet, so we don't know its side.
Mark
Is the trend still climbing?
Mimi
The CDC says national cases have fallen since a November 2024 peak, though they're still elevated.
Luke
And the infant incidence jump, 1.52 to 9.1 per 100,000, compares two six-month windows. It's real, but small numbers swing widely.
Le Pouls
- Florida's whooping cough count hit 1,295 by late September, far beyond the 715 recorded across all of 2024, and the pace is alarming.
- Nearly two-thirds of the cases strike children aged 0 to 9, and infants face the gravest risk of pneumonia, seizures, and brain damage.
- Kindergarten vaccination slipped to 90.6%, below the 95% threshold experts consider necessary, while religious exemptions keep growing.
- The state is moving to repeal vaccine mandates and has stopped sending outbreak alerts, leaving pediatricians to build their own warning network.
- Doctors warn that the situation is headed toward more infections and more community spread unless immunization rates recover.
In late September 2025, Florida's count of whooping cough cases had already climbed past the total of all of 2024, a reminder that a disease humanity learned to hold back with vaccines does not retreat on its own when protection thins. The sharpest danger falls on the youngest, the infants too small to be immunized and the children whose families have chosen not to vaccinate, at the very moment the state is moving to loosen the requirements that once kept classrooms and communities protected. Pediatricians now find themselves gathering the information the state no longer shares, building their own watch over an illness that spreads quietly through the people least able to bear it.
By Sept. 27, 2025, Florida had recorded 1,295 cases of whooping cough, more than the 715 logged in all of 2024. The increase is 81%, and it arrived with the year still not finished. Pediatricians worry most about two groups: infants too young to be vaccinated, and unvaccinated children. Pertussis is highly contagious, and in babies it can bring pneumonia, seizures, brain damage, or death. Older children and adults usually suffer long coughing fits that can crack ribs and steal sleep. Most of the cases, 63%, are in children aged 0 to 9.
The danger to the youngest has grown sharply. Among infants under one, incidence rose from 1.52 per 100,000 in the winter of 2023 to 2024 to 9.1 in the winter of 2024 to 2025. Nationally, cases have eased since their peak in November 2024, but they remain high. Dr. Mobeen Rathore of Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville has seen more infections among teenagers and young adults. Those patients may recover easily, yet they can pass the illness on to babies.
Protection depends on a series of five vaccinations, and even one dose gives partial defense. Florida still requires school-age children to have TDAP shots, though religious exemptions remain available. Kindergarten coverage fell to 90.6% in 2024, the lowest in more than ten years.
In early September, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans to repeal all vaccine mandates. The health department has already begun dropping several requirements within its own authority. Dr. Tara Williams, a pediatrician in Orlando, warned that the state had stopped sending outbreak alerts about two years ago, leaving families and doctors in the dark. Pediatricians are now trying to build their own statewide alert system. A request for comment from state health officials remains pending.
By Sept. 27, 2025, Florida had logged 1,295 cases of whooping cough with the state Department of Health. For all of 2024, the count was 715. That is an 81% jump, according to the department's Reportable Diseases Frequency Report, and it arrived with a few days of the year's third quarter still to run.
The numbers worry pediatricians most for two groups: infants too young to be vaccinated, and children who are unvaccinated. Whooping cough, known medically as pertussis, is a highly contagious respiratory infection. In babies and young children it can bring pneumonia, seizures, brain damage or death. In older children and adults it more often means prolonged coughing fits that can fracture ribs, cause vomiting and wreck sleep. According to state data, 63% of cases are in children 0 to 9.
The rate among the youngest has climbed sharply. From November 2023 to April 2024, the incidence among children under 1 was 1.52 per 100,000 population. For November 2024 to April 2025, it was 9.1. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that cases nationally have trended down since a peak in November 2024, though they remain elevated this year.
Dr. Mobeen Rathore, a former president of the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and chief of infectious diseases and immunology at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, says he has seen more cases among adolescents and young adults. Those patients, he said, are showing up in emergency departments and doctors' offices, exposing many people. They may not get very sick, but they can pass the infection to infants and children. There is currently no official recommendation for a booster after age 10, he noted, though full immunization on the AAP schedule would mean fewer cases in every age group and less community transmission.
Protection comes from a series of five vaccinations, given from 2 months of age to between 4 and 6 years. Even a single dose offers partial protection and milder outcomes. Florida requires children entering public school, kindergarten through 12th grade, to have at least four doses of the TDAP vaccine, which covers tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis. Religious exemptions are allowed. As of April 2025, the state estimated that 6.39% of children ages 5 to 17 held one, a figure likely to be low because parents can withhold exemption information from the Florida SHOTS immunization system. In 2024, kindergarten vaccination in Florida fell to 90.6%, the lowest in more than a decade. Experts recommend at least 95% for highly contagious diseases such as measles.
Against that backdrop, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Gov. Ron DeSantis announced in early September that the state would work with the Legislature to repeal all vaccine mandates. At a Sept. 3 press conference in Valrico, in Hillsborough County, Ladapo said, "Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery." The Department of Health will repeal the rules within his authority, he said, while the governor and Legislature handle the rest. The department has already started removing the Hepatitis B, varicella, Haemophilus influenzae type b and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines from the immunization requirements.
Dr. Tara Williams, a general academic pediatrician at the Orlando College of Osteopathic Medicine, said, "We are setting up a cesspool of germs for our kids to walk into." She also said the state used to email alerts about infectious disease outbreaks but stopped about two years ago. "We no longer know what's going on," she said. "We are kept in the dark and there is no information." Florida pediatricians are now trying to build their own statewide alert system so they can watch for outbreaks and avoid delayed diagnoses and community spread. Williams said she fears it will take children dying of polio and diphtheria before people line up for vaccines again.
A request for comment to state health officials about the rise in cases is still pending.
Citations marquantes
We are setting up a cesspool of germs for our kids to walk into.— Dr. Tara Williams, Orlando College of Osteopathic Medicine
Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.— Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, Sept. 3 press conference
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