Federal Data Indicate Whooping Cough Cases In 2024 Have Doubled Year-Over-Year

The Washington Post (6/6, Johnson, Malhi) reports, “Whooping cough, a bacterial illness that poses an especially significant threat to infants, is surging in the United States – another potential legacy of the coronavirus pandemic.” Federal trackers “report that during the first five months of this year, about 5,000 whooping cough cases were reported, more than double the number for the same period last year.” At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, “when people feared being exposed to the coronavirus in a doctor’s office, some children may have missed vaccination appointments, leaving them vulnerable to future infections.”