Louisiana Officials Delayed Warning Amid Fatal Whooping Cough Outbreak

State health officials in Louisiana have come under scrutiny for appearing to deviate from standard public health communication procedures during the state’s worst whooping cough outbreak in 35 years. Experts emphasize that standard practice during an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease involves alerting residents quickly to remind the public about vaccinations and prevent further illness.

Whooping cough, or pertussis, is highly contagious and particularly dangerous for the youngest infants, often causing vomiting, trouble breathing, pneumonia, and, rarely, death. Infants under two months old are not yet eligible for their first vaccine dose, making them highly vulnerable.

Despite Louisiana health officials beginning to see a "substantial" increase in whooping cough cases by September 2024, and physicians internally warning colleagues by late January 2025 that two infants had died in the outbreak, the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) waited months to sound a public alarm.

The standard playbook for public health officials was not followed. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, noted that this lag is atypical, especially for preventable childhood diseases.

The timeline of official public response included significant delays:

• The LDH waited two months after the deaths to send out a social media post recommending people speak to their doctors about vaccination.

• The department took even longer—until May 1, 2025, at least three months after the second infant death—to issue an official alert to physicians.

• The first press release followed on May 2, with a news conference held May 14.

Abraar Karan, an instructor at Stanford University, stressed that because infectious diseases spread exponentially, officials lose a crucial chance to prevent infections if they fail to alert the public quickly. Karan stated Louisiana should have started warning the public within days of the first infant death, noting that by not acting quickly, the state may have caused a "train wreck" of an outbreak.

Adding complexity to the delayed response was the action of Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham. On February 13, 2025—a few hours after anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. won Senate confirmation as the new U.S. health secretary—Abraham sent a staff memo ending the general promotion of vaccines and community vaccine events. In a public memo posted that same day, Abraham argued that public health had "overstepped with vaccine recommendations," driven by a "one-size-fits-all, collectivist mentality".

By the time the LDH issued its first official physician alert in May, 42 people had been hospitalized for whooping cough since the outbreak began. More than two-thirds of those hospitalized were babies under the age of 1. Three-quarters of those hospitalized were not up to date on their immunizations.

Pertussis cases continued to climb throughout the summer in Louisiana, and as of September 20, 2025, the state had counted 387 cases, far surpassing the previous high of 214 cases in 2013. The Louisiana Department of Health did not appear to issue further public communications about pertussis over the four months following May.

This situation reflects a national surge in whooping cough cases across states like Texas, Florida, California, and Oregon. This national surge is fueled by several factors: falling vaccination rates, fading immunity among adults (many received the acellular vaccine, which wanes over time), improved modern PCR testing, and low Tdap coverage among pregnant women (about 60%).

Health officials urge a more aggressive response. The ongoing goal of public health communication, according to Georges Benjamin, is to prevent the next hospitalization or death. Joseph Bocchini, president of the Louisiana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, advises consistent updates, reminding the public to get vaccinated, including pregnant mothers, and to seek immediate care for a persistent cough.

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🔖 Sources

Whooping cough outbreaks surge, fueled by waning immunity and falling vaccination rates

Louisiana officials waited months to warn public of whooping cough outbreak

Louisiana Took Months To Sound Alarm After Two Babies Died in Whooping Cough Outbreak

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Whooping Cough Outbreak

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