The last 12 months have demonstrated what humanity can achieve in vaccine development with a global commitment and focus — plus, of course, several billion dollars of investment.

And if scientists need a new target, top of the list might be the 100-day cough, also known as pertussis.

US researchers are warning about a global upsurge of the disease, which they attribute to how Bordetella pertussis is adapting to evade acellular pertussis (aP) vaccines. 

In the 1980s, many countries switched from the whole-cell pertussis (wP) vaccine to an aP vaccine, such as the combination DTPa shot in the Australian childhood schedule.