I had whooping cough when I was three months old. That was a long, long time ago before any vaccines. It was an awful time for my parents as I almost died.

My children all had the vaccine when they were young. It was combined with Tetanus and Diphtheria vaccines. DPT as it was called. Maybe still is. No problems at all. Whooping cough is not something a person wants to fool around with especially in the young. I believe if you get whooping cough when you are older it is not so bad unless if you have a compromised immune system - maybe.

Since the subject of Polio was mentioned the Polio vaccine began in 1957 and licensed in 1962. That's around the time I received the vaccine. Way before that my younger brother got polio. He was 2 1/2 years old - no vaccine then. He got a really bum leg out of it and at some point he may get post polio syndrome. Who knows. I know some who have gotten post polio syndrome. Some of those have died. Polio was prevalent back then. Nothing to fool with either.