Vaccination Battle

7,980 cases of pertussis, most commonly known as the whooping cough, were recently reported in California, according to a 2014 report published by the California Department of Public Health, which also attributes three infant deaths this year to the disease.

It's no surprise that over the years, the number of cases and deaths related to the whooping cough epidemic has increased.

Young babies are especially vulnerable to the whooping cough, a respiratory infection that involves chronic coughing. But this infection is also rampant in teens and young adults who seem to have lost their immunity. In fact, teens and pre-teens are often considered whooping cough "reservoirs," found reporter Laurel Erickson, who spoke with parents and physicians about opting in and out of providing vaccinations to children and teens.

Dr. Wilbert Mason, an infectious disease specialist at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, is concerned by the growing number of parents who postpone vaccines, including those who do not vaccinate their children at all.

"Parents who don't vaccinate their children are depending upon at least 90 percent of other parents to vaccinate and so their children will be protected," Mason said in this 2011 "SoCal Connected" segment.

Featuring Interviews With:

• Dr. Bill Mason, infectious disease specialist.
• Simone Rodman-Wilson, parent.
• Jessica Katz, parent in support of vaccines.
• Julie Jacobs, parent.
• Dr. Jay Gordon, pediatrician.