After greatly reduced activity during the COVID-9 pandemic, pertussis (whooping cough) has surged in the United States this year and last, but many Americansare confused or uninformed about current vaccine recommendations, according to a new poll from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC).
Compared with 2023, the survey showed a statistically significant drop in the proportion of respondents who say a vaccine to protect against whooping cough exists (57% vs 63% in 2023).
The poll revealed that up to 30% of Americans do not know whooping cough is also called pertussis, and just 43% recognized pertussis or whooping cough as one of the vaccines covered by the Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) vaccine.
Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all children age 7 and up get a dose of Tdap, with another dose at 11 or 12 years. Adults get a booster every 10 years, and pregnant women should get a Tdap vaccine each pregnancy, ideally in the third trimester, so antibodies can be passed to infants.
Starting at 2 months, babies get the DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis) as a five-injection series (2, 4, and 6 months; at 15-18 months; and between 4 and 6 years old). Before 2 months of age, babies are at highest risk for severe and fatal pertussis infections.
Most would recommend to child, but only half to pregnant women
The poll shows 83% of Americans say they would be likely to recommend that a child age 11 to 12 years old in their household or an adult in their family who is due for their 10-year booster get a Tdap vaccine, but only 46% say they would be likely to recommend that a pregnant women take the Tdap vaccine. This represents no change from 2023, the APPC said.
Messaging may be the problem.
Public health communicators should reiterate that our best defense against whooping cough is the whooping cough vaccine.
“The MMR vaccine, which covers measles, mumps and rubella, is colloquially referred to as the measles vaccine,” APPC Director Kathleen Hall Jamieson said in the release. “Instead of speaking about the DTaP and Tdap vaccines and using the unfamiliar term ‘pertussis,’ public health communicators should reiterate that our best defense against whooping cough is the whooping cough vaccine.”
So far this year, there have been more than 26,000 whooping cough cases in the United States, lower than 2024 totals but four times higher than for all of 2023.
The survey included 1,637 US adults and was conducted November 17 through December 1. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
