Whooping cough cases in Florida have soared this year, marking an 81% increase from 2024’s number.
As of Sept. 27, 2025, there have been 1,295 cases reported to the Florida Department of Health (DOH), compared to 715 cases for the entirety of 2024, according to the department’s Reportable Diseases Frequency Report.
They still report those numbers? Quick, make them stop so people won’t learn about the consequences of voting GOP!
But but but my main goal in life is to make floridian lawmakers and lobbyists more powerful than anyone else so who cares about disease and stuff.
I’m a bit torn on this reporting…
On the one hand I’m totally with them on using this as a cautionary tale about vaccine hesitancy and how the administration policies dangerously exacerbate that phenomenon, and a rough indicator of what the consequences may look like.
On the other hand, the headline makes it sound like the Florida rollback has caused this, but that isn’t strictly true because:
- The Florida rollback hasn’t happened yet
- The rollback doesn’t include whooping cough (pertussis):
All other vaccinations required under Florida law to attend school “remain in place, unless updated through legislation,” including vaccines for measles, polio, diphtheria, pertussis, mumps and tetanus, the department said.
The headline uses the word “amid,” which is not specifically causative. But announcements have already been made, and the governor has insisted on moving ahead to eliminate vaccination requirements. People don’t need a hard line to follow through on their personal choices to endanger others. They have essentially been given the green light, and they can excuse it in the meantime with “religious beliefs.”
I’m always for the integrity of journalism because the lack thereof is part of the reason we’re where we are today. A more accurate but eaqually as cautionary of a headline would be “Whooping cough cases on the rise in Florida as vaccine skepticism is legally supported by the states lawmakers” or something like that
Really interesting to see the USA become one of the countries on its list of countries that require vaccinations for travel to.
Oh noooo what a shame
Burger King is getting in on the action with a promotional offer called Whooper and fries.
The anitvax aka pro-plauge crowd asked for this.
Let them die. Let’s put together a fund that helps pro-vaccine people move out of the Florida wasteland.
??? The people who are going to suffer and die from this are the children who don’t get vaccinated and the immunocompromised who can’t. The dingbats who wanted this will be fine because they themselves were vaccinated as children.
The problem is that they’re going to take out the immunocompromised who had nothing to do with it. And their mess is going to seep out of the border of their state because it a a vacation hotspot.
Surprisedpikachu.gif
Just stop reporting the numbers, problem solved.
Ah, the COVID method of counting!
1 million, 1.2 million, zero million, 3, the libs did it…
You’re hired! -maga everything
They kinda did. 81% in the headline sounds like a lot. But once you read it, its really only a few hundred in population of over 23m. It should also be noted that in 2023, there was a total of 85 cases for the entire year. So the increase was far more dramatic between 2023 and 2024 than 2024 and 2025.
Good thing diseases don’t have the potential for exponential growth or anything like that.
Also, it isn’t like diseases spread like wildfire during the holidays in November and December or anything. Yup, those 2025 numbers are definitely final!
Phew!
I dont really know how this affects what I said. In 2023, the case count was 85. A year later, over 700. The implication by everyone is that this is because of Trump, RFKjr, and their being fucking morons when it comes to vaccines. But as you can see, the increase in cases started before either of them came to power. So implication that this is happening because of Trump and RFKjr is wrong.
The implication is that they will make things worse. Antivaxx bullshit was already a thing, they are just promoting it even more. People can’t undo the vaccinations that have already been done, but as more and more people choose not to vaccinate the cases will continue to increase.
It isn’t a magical on/off switch, which anyone who understands how vaccines work would know.
That may well be the case, but Im afraid that the implication is exactly as I stated. They are blaming Trump and RFKjr for this when, like you said, antivax bullshit was going on for years before they came to power. So the resolution isnt going to be getting them out of power. Its going to be much, MUCH harder than that.
Getting them out of power is part of the solution because the longer RFK Jr has the ability to destroy the national health care agencies the longer it will take to fix things.
It is like you are against cleaning and dressing a wound because it won’t heal it 100% instantly.
No, Im against over simplifying the solution to get worthless internet points.
The fact is, that theres a war of information. And because of people like you, that war is being lost. Far too many people only look for what fits their narrative, instead of what the actual truth is. Whether you realise it or not, you and those like you are advocating for stopping the bus at Trump and RFKjr. Which I am saying would be a mistake. They can be PART of the problem, but they are not THE problem.
It’s a tricky case…
Like you say, this a) predates the Trump admin and b) so far TDAP is still required to be in school even in Florida even after the upcoming set of dropped vaccine mandates, so even this disease isn’t the result nor wouldn’t be the result of even Florida’s aggressively lax vaccinne policies.
On the other hand, this shows how far out of hand things can get even without the government dropping mandates and actively restricting vaccinnes and stoking more vaccine hesitancy.
You are right that it wouldn’t fix things by itself, but it certainly greatly exacerbates the severity having the people in power aligned with vaccine hesitancy.
Youre right, they are a factor. I just dont like seeing people fool themselves into thinking that getting rid of them alone will solve the issues. The antivax movement is long in the tooth and need some serious addressing. People are still talking about vaccines and autism, even though that connection has been proven multiple times to be bullshit.
All Im really getting at is there isnt going to be a simple solution to this. Its not going to be as easy as getting rid of the orange man and worm, and all is right in the world.
Most of the time I see a statistic in a headline, I assume it’s just trying to sensationalize the issue. And as my dad told me, most of the time you assume, you’re right.
Good, let them die
The children who are going to suffer and die from this didn’t ask for it, it was their parents who are themselves vaccinated.
I cant wait to gat out of this state
Imagine dying of a completely preventable disease.
It’s almost like we don’t have hundreds of years of data on the efficacy and safety of means to prevent them.
Fake news! There have always been whooping cough! My cousin took it! And he is fine! Better than the risk of microchip 5G in the vaccines!
— people that asked for this (likely)
I keep quoting that one famous Iowan: Let them die.
