This post was last checked and updated in December 2025.
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a bacterial infection that spreads easily and mainly affects the lungs and airways. Whooping cough is sometimes known as the 100-day cough because of how long the cough can last.
What are the symptoms?
The first symptoms of whooping cough are similar to a common cold, with a runny nose and a mild fever. After about a week or two, the classic cough develops with uncontrolled fits of severe coughing that can last for several minutes, sometimes causing vomiting. Coughing is often worse at night. Coughing fits can cause some people to make a typical ‘whooping’ sound as they gasp for breath between coughs.
Young babies who are not yet old enough to have had their first 3 doses of infant vaccines are at the highest risk of developing severe whooping cough including pauses in breathing (apnoea), dehydration, pneumonia, or seizures. Rarely, babies with whooping cough can sadly die.
Can adults get whooping cough?
Whooping cough can affect people of all ages. It can be a nasty illness for older children and adults, especially if they have never completed vaccination. It can cause many weeks of cough that can affect sleep and be severe enough to cause hernias, rib bruising and burst blood vessels in the eye.
What can you do to protect your children from whooping cough?
Whooping cough can affect people of all ages. It can be a nasty illness for older children and adults, especially if they have never completed vaccination. It can cause many weeks of cough that can affect sleep and be severe enough to cause hernias, rib bruising and burst blood vessels in the eye.
What can you do to protect your children from whooping cough?
The best defence is to make sure they are fully vaccinated.
The whooping cough vaccine is given as part of the routine childhood vaccination schedule in the UK. Babies receive 3 doses at 8, 12 and 16 weeks old (the 6-in-1 vaccine), followed by a booster at 3 years 4 months. Children born from July 2024 onwards will have a fourth dose of the whooping cough vaccine at 18 months of age that will help boost their protection until they get their next dose at 3 years 4 months of age. The vaccine course helps provide high levels of protection against severe disease.
It's also important for pregnant women to get vaccinated against whooping cough to help protect their baby in their first weeks of life before they can be given their own first vaccine dose. Vaccinating pregnant women boosts their protection which will be shared with their unborn baby in the womb so that babies are protected from birth.
Whooping cough vaccine will normally be offered around the time of the mid-pregnancy scan, usually at about 20 weeks. Ideally it should be given before 32 weeks of pregnancy, but vaccines can be given from as early as 16 weeks and women remain eligible after 32 weeks until they give birth and up to the time their baby’s first dose is offered.
Vaccinating pregnant women has been shown to be over 90% effective in preventing whooping cough deaths in young babies.
Whooping cough vaccine has been safely and extensively used in pregnant women in the UK since October 2012, and in many other countries, for example in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.
How common is whooping cough?
One of UKHSA’s responsibilities is collecting numbers of cases of notifiable diseases (including whooping cough) and we publish analyses of local and national trends on a regular basis. In the years since monitoring began, we have seen a huge decline in whooping cough cases from peak years exceeding 100,000 cases in the 1950s.
Whooping cough is a cyclical disease that regularly peaks every 3 to 5 years. We are, unfortunately, seeing increasing rates of whooping cough at present, following a prolonged period of very low case numbers due to restrictions, and reduced social mixing patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. As protection from vaccination declines over time, circulation of infection tends to occur among older children and adults, who tend to get mild infection. But these cases increase the risk of spreading to babies, who may experience severe disease.
While whooping cough can be unpleasant at any age, it's especially serious for young babies. By ensuring you receive the whooping cough vaccine while pregnant and that your children are fully vaccinated – you can give them the best protection against this potentially dangerous illness.
Mums-to-be can contact their midwife or GP surgery if they have reached week 20 of their pregnancy and are unsure whether they have had the vaccine.
Parents can also help protect their children by ensuring they receive their vaccines at the right time or catching up as soon as possible if they have missed any. If you are not sure if your child has had all their routine vaccinations, check their personal health record (Red Book) or contact your GP practice.
How common is whooping cough?
One of UKHSA’s duties is collecting information on cases of infectious diseases. This is done in different ways that includes laboratory-confirmed cases and collecting numbers of cases of notifiable diseases (including whooping cough). We use this information to monitor the disease activity and estimate the impact and effectiveness of the vaccine programmes.
In the years since monitoring began, we have seen a huge fall in whooping cough cases from peak years exceeding 100,000 cases in the 1950s, before the first whooping cough vaccine was introduced, to a peak year of around 6,000 cases in 2016 by which time many new ways of confirming whooping cough had also been introduced.
Whooping cough is a disease that regularly peaks every 3 to 5 years. We saw very high rates of whooping cough in 2024, following a long period of very low case numbers due to controls, and reduced social mixing patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. As protection from vaccines falls over time, circulation of infection tends to occur among older children and adults, who usually get mild infection. But these cases increase the risk of spreading to babies, who are most likely to have severe disease.
What if I haven’t had my pregnancy vaccine or my children have missed a dose?
Mums-to-be can contact their midwife or GP practice if they have reached week 20 of their pregnancy and are unsure whether they have had the vaccine.
Parents can help protect their children by ensuring they receive their vaccines at the right time or catching up as soon as possible if they have missed any. If you are not sure if your child has had all their routine vaccinations, check their personal health record (Red Book) or contact your GP practice.