The Truth About Whooping Cough in the U.S.

Once again, this year Americans are being warned that B. pertussis whooping cough cases are on the rise and society is being endangered by parents who don’t vaccinate their children. ^{1  2 3 4 5} That myth goes back to the early 1980’s, when parents of DPT vaccine injured children in the U.S. were calling for a less reactive pertussis vaccine because our children were dying and being brain injured by the crude whole cell pertussis vaccine, ^{6 7} an especially toxic vaccine that is still being given today in some other countries. ⁸

In the late 20^th century we were accused of causing whooping cough outbreaks just by talking about crippling DPT vaccine reactions, ⁹ very similar to the accusations leveled against people who talked about crippling COVID shot reactions that led to widespread censorship of freedom of speech in the 21^st century. ^{10 11 12 13}

Back in the 1980s, while we were researching the medical literature and learning about how DPT vaccine could kill and disable children, we were also discovering that whole cell pertussis vaccine was not reliably preventing infection with or transmission of B pertussis that causes whooping cough. ¹⁴ In the early 1980s, scientists were reporting that whole cell pertussis vaccine acquired immunity lasted only about two to five years, and whooping cough was circulating in countries with 90 to 95 percent vaccination rates, including in people showing few or no symptoms. ^{15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22}

Cases of asymptomatic transmission of whooping cough were not being counted in official pertussis statistics in the 1980s when nearly every child in the U.S. was getting four or five doses of whole cell pertussis vaccine. ²³ And today, cases of asymptomatic whooping cough in children and adults, who have gotten five to seven doses of acellular pertussis vaccine, are not being counted either. ²⁴

Public health officials and doctors continue to insist publicly that vaccines do prevent infection and transmission of disease. ^{25 26} In fact, the utilitarian rationale for mandatory vaccination laws is based on the premise that everyone must be forced to get vaccinated, that it is our moral obligation to be willing to sacrifice our lives or the lives of our children by risking a disabling or life-ending vaccine reaction for the greater good of society. ^{27 28 29} The argument is that forcing everyone to get vaccinated creates “herd” or “community” immunity,^{30 31} and society is protected from infection and transmission of diseases, which public health officials always claim have more serious and frequent complications than vaccines. ³²

So the scientific and moral rationale for mandatory vaccination rises or falls on whether or not vaccines reliably prevent infection with and transmission of diseases caused by microbes.

During the coronavirus pandemic declaration in 2020, public health officials and lawmakers mandating the COVID shot insisted that none of us would get sick or make other people sick if we rolled up our sleeves and got COVID shots. ^{33 34 35} But soon it became painfully clear that the mRNA biological product labeled a COVID vaccine did not prevent the disease, ³⁶ no matter how many COVID shots a person got, ³⁷ and the risks for heart and brain inflammation were significant.^{38 39 40 41}

Infectious microbes adapt to survive and circulate in human and animal hosts. ^{42 43} The truth is that you can get vaccinated according to the CDC’s recommended schedule and still get pertussis, ⁴⁴ measles, ^{45 46} mumps, ⁴⁷ influenza ⁴⁸ and other vaccine targeted diseases but only show few symptoms or no symptoms at all.  Vaccinated and unvaccinated people can also transmit infection to other vaccinated and unvaccinated people, even as there is mounting evidence that a natural infection often provides a more robust and longer lasting immunity than a vaccine. ^{49 50 51} Pertussis is an excellent example.

Since 1986, I have been talking about the fact that pertussis vaccine does not reliably prevent infection and transmission of whooping cough. In 1986, when our organization -  then known as Dissatisfied Parents Together (DPT) – held the first public demonstration in front of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta to protest the reactivity of whole cell pertussis vaccine, I gave an oral presentation to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) summarizing an investigation I had conducted into DPT vaccine failures in eight states reporting whooping cough outbreaks. I presented data obtained from the eight state health departments, which revealed that in six out of eight states more than half of the reported cases of whooping cough in children and adults had been vaccinated. In one state, more than 70 percent of the whooping cough cases with a known vaccination history had received three or more DPT shots. ⁵²

Time to Dispel Myths and Lies About Pertussis and Pertussis Vaccines

What’s old is new, and it is time to dispel the myths and lies being told about the old whole cell and newer acellular pertussis vaccines.

• FACT: Both the highly reactive whole cell DPT vaccine licensed 1948,  ⁵³  and the less reactive acellular DTaP vaccine licensed in 1996 for infants ⁵⁴ can fail to prevent infection and transmission. ⁵⁵ Those two vaccines typically provide two to five years of temporary vaccine acquired immunity – at best lasting about 12 years; ^{56 57 58}
• FACT: Natural infection with B. pertussis often produces a more robust and longer lasting immunity of between four and 20 years – at best 30 to 70 years; ⁵⁹
• FACT: An unknown number of vaccinated children and adults – perhaps millions - are silently infected with pertussis in the U.S. every year and show few or no symptoms and doctors do not identify those cases, which means those cases are not reported to the government; [60 ⁶¹
• FACT: In response to mass pertussis vaccination campaigns beginning in the 1950s, the B. pertussis microbe evolved first to evade whole cell pertussis vaccines in the 1980s and, in the 1990s, that evolution accelerated to evade acellular pertussis vaccines.  ⁶²

Now, here is the rest of the story in more detail:

High Child Pertussis Vaccination Rates in U.S. for 35 Years

Child pertussis vaccination rates in the U.S. for children attending school have remained high and relatively stable for the past 45 years. Consistently, more than 90 to 94 percent of kindergarten children have received four to give pertussis-containing shots either in whole-cell DPT or acellular DTAP.  ⁶³ In the 2023-2024 school year, nationally 92 percent of children attending kindergarten had gotten five doses of pertussis containing DTaP, with one state reporting a more than 98 percent vaccination rate. ⁶⁴

Among 24-month old children, there was a 94 percent pertussis vaccination rate with three doses of DTaP and 81 percent with four doses in the years 2019 and 2020. ⁶⁵ Today, 89 percent of teenagers attending high school have gotten at least one Tdap booster shot. ⁶⁶

That’s a lot of pertussis vaccination going on in America for a long time among children of all ages, many of whom are now adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s.

So why beginning a decade ago did public health officials report that large numbers of fully vaccinated pre-schoolers in Florida, ⁶⁷  and fully vaccinated teenagers in California, ⁶⁸ and fully vaccinated sisters and brothers of newborn infants were spreading pertussis whooping cough - ⁶⁹  even though most had gotten every pertussis shot recommended by the CDC?

To answer that question, let’s do a quick review of the history of pertussis and pertussis vaccine.

DPT Licensed in 1948 and DTaP in 1996 for U.S. Babies

Pertussis whooping cough has been around since at least the 15^th century, ⁷⁰ and it can be deadly for babies who cannot breathe when the sticky mucous produced by the gram negative bacteria clogs their tiny airways. Signs of whooping cough begin with typical cold symptoms of fatigue, runny nose, sometimes a low grade fever and slight cough for several weeks. It progresses to violent spasmodic coughing that ends with a “whoop” in infants or small children as they try to breathe and then vomit up thick mucus through the nose and mouth, especially at night. Historically referred to as “the 100 day cough,” a pertussis infection can last for four to 12 weeks and serious complications include bronchitis, pneumonia, brain inflammation and death. Doctors prescribe antibiotics and there are holistic therapies, but the course of the disease is rarely altered and re-hydration, rest and good nutrition is always recommended. ⁷¹

The first crude whole cell pertussis vaccine, which contained bioactive pertussis toxin and endotoxin was licensed in 1914, but was not given widely to children until after 1948, when it was combined with diphtheria and tetanus vaccines into the DPT shot that also contained aluminum and mercury. ⁷² DPT was used in the U.S. until 1996, when a purified, less reactive acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) was licensed for use by infants. ⁷³

Acellular pertussis vaccines contain far less bioactive pertussis toxin and endotoxin and do not contain mercury. ^{74 75 76}  While DTaP has been proven to be far less reactive than whole cell pertussis vaccine in DPT, ^{77 78 79 80 81} acellular pertussis vaccine can still cause brain inflammation and permanent brain dysfunction in vulnerable individuals. ^{82 83 84 85 86}

In 2019, World Health Organization (WHO) officials reported that 86 percent of the world’s infants had gotten at least three pertussis containing shots. ⁸⁷

75% Drop in Pertussis Deaths Before DPT Licensed in 1948

But what about deaths in the U.S. from B. pertussis whooping cough?

In our country, deaths from pertussis infections dropped by more than 75% between 1922 and 1948, the year the DPT vaccine was licensed. In 1948, the mortality rate was less than 1 pertussis death per 100,000 persons and would never be higher than that again in the U.S. ^{88 89}

In 2013, there were about 29,000 reported pertussis cases and 13 pertussis-related deaths in America, with nine of those deaths in infants under age one. ⁹⁰  By the end of 2024, there had been more than 35,000 pertussis cases reported in the U.S. out of 326 million people with 10 related deaths and six of those deaths in infants under age one. ⁹¹

However, reported numbers of pertussis cases do not match the total number of actual cases of pertussis that are happening in America. Most pertussis cases, like most vaccine reactions, are not being diagnosed or reported by doctors to the government.^{92 93} Public health officials admit they still don’t have reliable lab tests to measure pertussis immunity and, although there have been recent improvements in diagnostic tests, there is little agreement about how to diagnose pertussis when infected people, especially vaccinated people, show up in doctor’s offices with mild symptoms. ^{94 95 96} 

The truth is that the child or adult sitting next to you in the bus, classroom, movie theater or doctor’s office, who has a little cough or no cough at all, could be infected with B. pertussis whooping cough, even though he or she has gotten every federally recommended dose of pertussis vaccine.

U.S. Pertussis Cases in Vaccinated Persons Not Identified or Reported

   When people can have silent asymptomatic infections, it means that reported cases of infectious diseases, like pertussis, are just the tip of a very big iceberg. ⁹⁷

It means that articles blaming whooping cough cases on unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children are nothing more than wishful thinking and scapegoating. ^{98 99} 

Bottom Line: Naturally acquired and vaccine acquired immunity is not lifelong. The B. pertussis microbe circulates among both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. While vaccination may prevent clinical symptoms, it does not reliably block infection, carriage or transmission. If vaccinated people can get silently infected and transmit infection without showing any symptoms – even after getting four to six pertussis shots - then the idea of pertussis vaccine acquired “herd immunity” is an illusion and always has been. 

So why has more than a century of pertussis vaccination failed to produce vaccine acquired herd immunity like public health officials insist that theoretically it can if only more and more pertussis shots are given to more people more of the time?

Extremely Reactive DPT and Less Reactive DTaP both Have Low Efficacy 

The emerging scientific evidence is compelling: the B. pertussis microbe has evolved over the past century to evade whole cell and acellular pertussis vaccines, which drug companies have marketed and medical doctors have aggressively promoted in a crusade to eradicate a species of bacteria they still know very little about. ^{100 101 102} A review of the medical literature reveals that the experts are unhappy with how much they still don’t know about the B. pertussis microbe and are arguing with each other about if, when, how and why pertussis vaccines have consistently failed to do the job of preventing B. pertussis whooping cough from circulating in highly vaccinated populations around the world. ^{103 104}    

The inconvenient set of scientific facts they have to work with are these:

• FACT: The efficacy of whole cell pertussis vaccine in the DPT shot was measured to be between 30 and 85 percent, depending upon the type of DPT and vaccine manufacturer, ^{105 106 107 108}  and protection on average lasted two to five years. ¹⁰⁹
• FACT: After a low of about 1,000 cases of pertussis were reported in the U.S in 1976, ¹¹⁰ it was obvious all through the1980s and 90’s that whole cell pertussis vaccine in DPT shots was not reliably preventing infection or transmission of whooping cough. ^{111 112 113 114 115}
• Pertussis cases increased in highly vaccinated populations in cycles of three to five years ¹¹⁶ - just like before DPT vaccine was widely used in the 1950s. ^{117 118 119 120}
• FACT: The whole cell DPT vaccine used until the late 1990’s in the U.S. was an extremely reactive vaccine. DPT vaccine reactions like fever, pain, and irritability were experienced by between 50 and 85 percent of children and seizures and collapse/shock reactions followed one in 875 DPT shots. ^{121 122} Brain inflammation was reported following 1 in 110,000 DPT shots with permanent brain damage after 1 in 310,000 DPT shots. ^{123 124}  Finally, in 1996, the marginally effective and extremely reactive whole cell DPT vaccine was replaced with a far less reactive but marginally effective acellular DTaP vaccine. ¹²⁵ Similar to whole cell pertussis vaccines, acellular pertussis vaccine efficacy in clinical trials was measured to be between 40 and 89 percent, depending upon the DTaP vaccine manufacturer. ^{126 127 128}
• FACT: Acellular pertussis vaccines do not reliably prevent infection,^{129 130}  just like whole cell pertussis vaccines do not reliably prevent infection. ¹³¹ In the 21^st century, pertussis outbreaks and cyclical increases have continued, ¹³² – even after a pertussis booster shot was added to the schedule for all adolescents and adults in 2006. ^{133 134}  By 2010, the Tdap pertussis booster shot was found to be only about 66 percent effective in providing temporary immunity for teenagers and adults. ¹³⁵

Pertussis Microbe Evolved to Evade Both DPT and DTaP Vaccines

In 1998, molecular biologists and other basic science researchers began warning that the B. pertussis microbe started to evolve to evade whole cell pertussis vaccine after DPT shots were given on a mass basis to children in the 1950’s.  ^{136 137 138 139 140} These bench scientists have been publishing hard evidence that over the past 65 years, B. pertussis bacteria have efficiently adapted to both whole cell and acellular pertussis vaccines. ^{141 142 143}

New Pertussis Strains with More Toxin Causing More Serious Disease

In a fight to survive, some evidence suggests the B. pertussis microbe has created new strains that produce more pertussis toxin to suppress the human immune system and cause more serious disease. ¹⁴⁴ Today, the pertussis strains included in the vaccine provide less of a match for the pertussis strains causing whooping cough disease. ^{145 146 147 148}

Bottom line: There is scientific evidence that B. pertussis bacteria have evolved to survive vaccine pressure and there is some concern that more virulent pertussis strains may evolve to be more efficiently transmitted by vaccinated children and adults with waning immunity.

As one research scientist commented in 2009, “An important question is whether other childhood vaccines also select for pathogens that are more efficiently transmitted by primed hosts, resulting in increased virulence.” ¹⁴⁹

New Genetically Engineered Pertussis Vaccines: The Cure Worse Than the Disease?

The crusade by public health officials to eradicate the B. pertussis microbe by adding more and more doses of ineffective vaccines to the child and adult schedule –even invading the once sacred place of the womb and insisting all pregnant women be vaccinated with pertussis containing vaccines ^{150 151}  – has not been proven to be effective, safe or necessary. ^{152 153}  Every vaccine comes with a risk of injury or death, which can be greater for some individuals depending upon the ancestral genes they were born with, ^{154 155} their epigenetic history, ¹⁵⁶ the state of their microbiome ^{157 158} and other individual biological and environmental susceptibilities. ¹⁵⁹  

As we witness a bacterial species efficiently adapting in an effort to survive a war that has been declared on it by humans, what has become painfully clear is that the history of mass vaccination has not been driven by hard science transparently shared with the people. ¹⁶⁰ It has been driven by the politics of a Public Health Empire working a lucrative government-industry public private business partnership to protect failed mandatory vaccination laws, while ignoring the hard science.¹⁶¹

Scientists are creating new pertussis vaccines using genetically modified pertussis bacteria that predictably will be fast tracked to market in a quest to put more pressure on the B. pertussis microbe to drive it from the planet. ¹⁶² The first targets will be pregnant women and children. One of these is a nasal pertussis vaccine using a lipid nanoparticle adjuvant developed with NIH funding designed to hyperstimulate an immune response.  ¹⁶³

The COVID shot uses lipid nanoparticles to deliver synthetic mRNA into the body’s cells and hyperstimulate an immune response. ^{164 165}That controversial mRNA technology is being used to develop another new pertussis vaccine, ¹⁶⁶ it’s a technology which has been associated with more than 1.5 million COVID shot reaction reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System known as VAERS.

Will these new genetically engineered pertussis vaccines create a cure that is worse than the disease?

In 1960, Swedish scientist Justis Strom, MD wrote in the British Medical Journal that there were more complications from the pertussis vaccine than there were complications from reported cases of pertussis in Sweden. He said: ¹⁶⁷

   “The increasingly mild nature of whooping cough and the very low mortality in this disease in Sweden makes it questionable whether universal vaccination against it is justified. This same question may perhaps arise in some other countries.”

Show Us the Science and Give Us A Choice

Whatever the pharmaceutical industry and public health officials choose to do, it is up to each one of us to remind lawmakers that it is their responsibility to show us the science and give us a choice when it comes to vaccines, especially when the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 has been destroyed by Congress and by federal agency rule making and by the U.S. Supreme Court so that no vaccine manufacturer, no public health official and no doctor is liable in a civil court of law when vaccine reactions or failures lead to injury and death. ¹⁶⁸

Voluntary, informed consent to medical risk taking, including to vaccination, is a human right. ¹⁶⁹ Learn more on NVIC.org. Sign up for the free NVIC Advocacy Portal and become active in your state to oppose vaccine mandates and protect vaccine exemptions from being eliminated by the Pharma, Medical Trade and Public Health industries.

It’s your health. Your family. Your choice.

And our mission continues: No forced vaccination. Not in America.

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