By September 2025, the CDC reported 28,783 confirmed cases of pertussis (whooping cough)—nearly ten times the 2,800 cases reported in all of 2024. The surge followed Kennedy's February 4, 2025 directive eliminating the DTaP vaccine (which protects against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis) from CDC immunization recommendations. Whooping cough is particularly dangerous for infants: before widespread vaccination began in the 1940s, pertussis killed approximately 8,000 people per year in the U.S., mostly babies.
The 2025 surge included at least 12 infant deaths and hundreds of hospitalizations. Vaccination rates for DTaP among kindergarteners dropped from 94.7% in 2024 to 79.2% by September 2025—well below the 92-94% needed to prevent outbreaks. Public health experts warned that the U.S. was seeing a return to pre-vaccine era disease patterns, with one epidemiologist noting 'we are watching decades of progress unravel in real time. "