A shifting dynamic in the way we perceive Whooping Cough may see a rise in the number of vaccinations after kids vaccinated more recently were found well-protected when compared to kids that had been vaccinated over longer periods.

Current California guidelines state that vaccines are given to kids as young as seven in emergency, when outbreaks of the disease are high. However a study by Dr David Witt, Chief of infectious disease at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, suggest that a dose of vaccine before such emergency conditions may be more useful than we think as the kids age and vaccine wears thin.

His research, in Marin County, Calif. found that protection may diminish as much as twenty times, in as little as three years after the fifth and final dose, given to 4-6 year olds.