We are surrounded by pathogens which can cause illness and disease. Fortunately, many of these diseases are preventable with vaccination, and far more lives are being saved by early immunization against these illnesses. One of these vaccine-preventable diseases, pertussis, is a serious bacterial infection that can cause severe respiratory complications and even death. Also known as "whooping cough", pertussis is very dangerous for infants and young children whose immune systems are not yet strong enough to fight infection. Because infants cannot receive the vaccine against pertussis, DTaP, until they are 2 months old, it is critical that family members and close contacts be vaccinated against pertussis in order to help provide some protection to newborn babies. This process is known as "cocooning" and can help prevent the transmission of pertussis to newborn babies.

 There have been recent large outbreaks of pertussis which have raised awareness for the critical need for pertussis vaccination. In 2010, California had over 9,000 cases of pertussis, the largest number reported in over 60 years. Of these cases, 89% were in children under 6 months old who are too young to be fully immunized. The Hispanic population was heavily affected by this outbreak, with 9 infant deaths. So far in 2012, there have been almost 1,900 cases of pertussis reported in Wisconsin and almost 1,300 in Washington. The state of Washington has officially declared the pertussis outbreak to be a statewide epidemic, as the number of cases in 2012 is more than 10 times the rate of cases reported in 2011.