Whooping Cough

A surge in measles cases linked to declining vaccination rates could threaten the United States’ measles elimination status, the CDC said in 2024.

Vaccination coverage among kindergarteners in the United States is still declining from pre-pandemic levels, and some states are reporting exemption rates of more than 5%, according to the latest CDC data.

The number of pertussis cases in the United States has quadrupled over the last 12 months, according to the CDC, raising questions as to what is behind the sudden, significant spike.

The Pan American Health Organization issued an epidemiological alert in July regarding a significant rise in pertussis cases in the Americas and across the globe, according to a press release.

The health department in Lexington-Fayette County, Kentucky, has declared a pertussis outbreak after several cases were confirmed in the last few weeks.

A county in Kentucky has declared a pertussis outbreak following the confirmation of nine cases since late April, including three this past Monday.

The national vaccine exemption rate among children entering kindergarten in the 2019-2020 school year was 2.5% from at least one vaccine, the same rate as the previous year, new data published in MMWR showed.

In a letter, AAP President Sara H. Goza, MD, FAAP, asked HHS for “immediate, direct financial relief payments” for pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists “to keep practices open, pay staff, and procure needed supplies.”

Healio’s coverage of the unanimous CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices vote that recommended Tdap be used for the decennial Td booster and other medical purposes was one of the top stories in infectious disease last week.

Only 34.8% of pregnant women have received both the influenza and Tdap vaccines, missing a chance to protect themselves and their infants from potential hospitalization and death, according to CDC data.