Any opinions on recent news reports of people who are vaccinated for pertussis being more likely to contract it than those who are not vaccinated?

It doesn't say that: Thanks for the link, andreeeyuh. The first sentence says, "immunized children between eight and 12 years old were more likely to catch the bacterial disease than kids of other ages". The article goes on to say that kids 8-12 get pertussis more often than others, not that those who are immunized get it more often than those who don't. The vaccine works, but it wears off.

Misconceptions: Before the 1990's, we couldn't give the old whole cell pertussis vaccine to kids over 6 due to severe local reactions. That meant the population that had more pertussis were teens or adults who's immunity had wained.They were not at risk of dying like the babies,but had the "100 days cough". We now boost pre teens with the new vaccine as well a pregnant moms. It seems to have worked in that group