The whooping cough outbreak that shook the United States in 2024 and 2025 has not ended. It has moderated from its peak, but the structural conditions that produced it — falling vaccination coverage, a vaccine whose immunity fades faster than public health messaging acknowledges, and a strained public health workforce — remain firmly in place. As of late May 2026, approximately 4,598 cases of pertussis have been documented nationwide, with California alone reporting nearly 700 cases, followed by Washington State at over 328, Ohio at over 280, and Florida at over 262.
These numbers come against a backdrop of catastrophic cyclical surge. In 2024, the United States reported 43,321 cases of whooping cough — the highest annual total in more than a decade. In 2025, that number remained elevated at 28,783 cases. By comparison, there were just 7,063 cases in 2023, meaning the country saw a roughly six-fold increase in a single year. Both 2024 and 2025 were accompanied by confirmed deaths: two infants in Louisiana, a child in Washington State (the first pertussis death in that state since 2011), an adult in Idaho, and others across Kentucky and South Dakota — deaths from a disease that can be prevented by a vaccine available at any pharmacy in the United States.
