{"id":52070,"date":"2025-06-07T03:37:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T07:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/?p=52070"},"modified":"2025-06-07T01:40:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T05:40:12","slug":"health-officials-urge-vaccinations-as-whooping-cough-cases-increase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/2025\/06\/07\/health-officials-urge-vaccinations-as-whooping-cough-cases-increase\/","title":{"rendered":"Health Officials Urge Vaccinations As Whooping Cough Cases Increase"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"22365\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/2019\/01\/18\/whooping-cough-reported-at-preschool\/whooping-cough\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Whooping-Cough.jpg?fit=1273%2C956&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1273,956\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Whooping Cough\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Whooping-Cough.jpg?fit=1024%2C769&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Whooping-Cough.jpg?resize=300%2C225\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-22365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Whooping-Cough.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Whooping-Cough.jpg?resize=768%2C577&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Whooping-Cough.jpg?resize=1024%2C769&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Whooping-Cough.jpg?w=1273&amp;ssl=1 1273w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><br \/>\nState health officials have reported the deaths of two infants from whooping cough in Kentucky over the past six months.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>These are the first whooping cough-related fatalities in the state since 2018. Officials with the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) highlighted the importance of vaccinations for pregnant women and infants to prevent such tragedies. Whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory illness, with symptoms that can escalate to severe coughing fits. Infants under 1 year old are particularly vulnerable to severe complications.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, Kentucky saw 543 cases of whooping cough, the highest since 2012. This year, 247 cases have already been reported, with expectations of continued increase through summer and fall.<\/p>\n<p>Health officials urge Kentuckians to stay current on pertussis vaccinations, especially for pregnant women and infants. The illness spreads easily through the air, often from family members who may not realize they are infected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>State health officials have reported the deaths of two infants from whooping cough in Kentucky over the past six months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":22365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-52070","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-archive","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Whooping-Cough.jpg?fit=1273%2C956&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6aKAp-dxQ","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 00:31:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52070"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52071,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52070\/revisions\/52071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}