US whooping cough outbreak is worst in a decade: NPR

The COVID-19 pandemic has prevented some people from getting vaccinated against other infectious diseases, including whooping cough

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Whooping cough is spreading across the country more than ever since 2014. There was more than 16,000 cases this year – more than four times as many compared to the same time last year – and two confirmed deaths. And experts fear the outbreak could worsen in the fall and winter months.

“More children are now going back to school, creating greater burden,” said Dr. Eric Chow, chief of epidemiology and immunization at the Seattle and King County Health Department. “We are heading into a winter season where people will spend more time indoors with other people.”

The disease is most dangerous for babies: one in three people get it require Hospitalization.

Whooping cough is currently particularly common on the west coast.

King County, where Seattle is located, has seen more this year than any year since 2015 — “and the year isn't even over yet,” Chow said. He said the county is still seeing new cases of whooping cough every week.

Why the big outbreak now?

Experts say there are a number of possible explanations for the scale of the current outbreak.

Doctors test for whooping cough more often, identifying more cases.

It is possible that the bacterium that causes the disease has mutated.

Plus, people have fallen behind on their vaccinations during the pandemic and they haven't caught up.

“One of the challenges we have with (the vaccine that protects against whooping cough) is that it is a five-dose series over the first six years of a child's life and therefore requires regular primary care visits.” said Chow.

And, Chow said, not everyone can go to the doctor regularly.

But access is not the only problem.

“There are still many vaccine hesitant and vaccine opponents who don’t want to vaccinate their children,” said Dr. Tina Tan, a pediatric infectious diseases physician at Northwestern University and president-elect of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

For the first few weeks, whooping cough looks like a mild cold, but then the coughing attacks begin.

Babies who get it “will wheeze when they cough,” Tan said. “And they can cough, cough, cough, cough, cough and then look like they're not breathing at all.”

Tan said these pauses in breathing were life-threatening and a sign that it was time to go to the hospital.

Whooping cough can also lead to pneumonia and other complications.

But babies can't get their first dose of the vaccine, which protects against whooping cough, also known as whooping cough, until they're two months old.

“That's why it's important for pregnant women to get vaccinated against whooping cough during pregnancy,” Tan said, “so that you can protect your baby in the first two months of life until he or she is old enough to get vaccinated on their own.”

Even before the pandemic, only about half of pregnant women received the whooping cough vaccination. Now that number is even lower.

In King County this year, of the 12 babies diagnosed with whooping cough, none of their mothers were vaccinated during pregnancy.

Vaccine fears and confidence

Dr. Chow, of Public Health-Seattle & King County, said that's a missed opportunity.

“Sometimes it requires some kind of sit-down conversation with the patient, who may be a little more hesitant or have encountered misinformation,” he said, “so it just takes longer to build trust and a relationship.”

Additionally, not all obstetricians/gynecologists offer the vaccine in their offices, and some people do not have the capacity to go to the pharmacy for a vaccination.

At a playground in Seattle's White Center neighborhood, Kay said she has two children, ages 12 and 4, and has always been hesitant about vaccinations.

Kay declined to give her last name because she was afraid of revealing private medical information.

“With COVID, it got even scarier because everyone started saying, 'The COVID vaccine isn't really good for you,'” Kay said. “So I thought, 'Maybe the other vaccines are bad too.' And then I went down the rabbit hole and looked for children who were supposedly vaccinated and died.”

Experts say vaccines are very safe and can prevent diseases that once killed or harmed many babies, children and adults.

Kay finally got her 4-year-old daughter the vaccinations she needed for daycare, but nothing else.

“It's hard for me to get child care, and it's just easier for me to say, 'Okay, just give me what she needs just so she can go to school,'” Kay said.

So her daughter received the required whooping cough vaccinations – but not COVID vaccinations, which are not required.

Aaron Sittinghorse was at the same playground with his three-year-old daughter. He said the pandemic has had the opposite effect on his thoughts about vaccines.

“It opened my eyes to how important they are,” he said, “and that’s why I believe in vaccines now. “It’s important, even if it’s not for yourself, but for everyone around you.”

Sittinghorse said he saw on the news that there was a whooping cough outbreak right now, and that worried him a little – but not too much because he and his family were up to date on their vaccinations.