Whooping Cough Cases Surge Across U.S. as Public Awareness Lags Behind the Facts

As of Dec. 6, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted more than 26,600 whooping cough cases in the United States this year. That is fewer than at the same point in 2024, when cases rose sixfold after a several-year lull during the pandemic, but it is more than four times the total for all of 2023. The CDC says preliminary numbers remain elevated compared with the period just before the pandemic.

In some states, the comparison reaches back decades. Oregon had recorded 1,475 cases as of Dec. 10, according to The Oregonian, passing the previous annual record of 1,420 set in 1950. Kentucky had not registered an infant whooping cough death since 2018, but state officials report three this year, as cited by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

CBS News reported in mid-November, citing interviews with state and federal health officials, that the outbreaks are fueled by falling vaccination rates, fading immunity, and delays in public health tracking systems. Babies too young to be fully vaccinated are most at risk. Until they can be vaccinated at two months, their protection comes from antibodies passed on by their mothers.

Against that backdrop, the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania surveyed 1,637 U.S. adults between Nov. 17 and Dec. 1, 2025, and found that much of the public is unsure about the basics. Thirty percent are not sure whether pertussis is the same as whooping cough, which it is; 61% chose the correct definition and 8% said pertussis is something else. Thirty-five percent are not sure whether a vaccine exists. Both figures are statistically unchanged from a November 2024 survey, and the share who say a vaccine exists has dropped significantly, to 57% from 63% in 2023.

Knowledge of the vaccines themselves is thin. The CDC recommends two combination vaccines. DTaP is a five-dose series for young children, given at 2, 4 and 6 months, at 15 to 18 months, and at 4 to 6 years. Tdap is for people age 7 and older, recommended at 11 to 12, for pregnant women in the 27th to 36th weeks of every pregnancy, and for adults who have not had it. Yet when shown a list, only 43% of respondents tied Tdap to pertussis, 48% to diphtheria and 53% to tetanus. Some 35% were unsure, and 13% wrongly chose polio. Just 28% named all three correct diseases and no incorrect ones.

Symptom awareness is slipping too. Coughing fits were the only symptom widely recognized, at 77%, down significantly from 83% in 2024. Those unsure of symptoms rose to 21% from 14%. Low-grade fever was picked by 44%, vomiting after coughing by 29% and runny nose by 27%, while 31% wrongly chose headache and 30% chills. The CDC notes the illness can resemble a cold before producing rapid, violent, uncontrolled coughing fits a week or two later, often followed by a gasping "whoop." Vaccinated people can still get it but generally have milder illness.

Willingness to act is mixed. Eighty-three percent say they would likely recommend Tdap for an 11- or 12-year-old or an adult due for a booster, and 77% think it is effective. But only 13% worry that they or a relative will get whooping cough in the next three months. And in a separate August 2025 survey of 1,699 adults, just 46% said they would likely recommend Tdap to someone pregnant, unchanged from 2023, despite the CDC's advice.

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the center's director, argues that communicators should skip the unfamiliar term and the vaccine acronyms and say plainly that the best defense against whooping cough is the whooping cough vaccine. What to watch in 2026 is whether the awareness and vaccination gaps widen while cases stay high.