Juliet Lautenbach was not particularly concerned about whooping cough. Both had gotten free public whooping cough vaccinations during her pregnancy and her daughter’s early years, in addition to all the other required vaccinations.
However, Lautenbach was working in an open-plan office with a coworker who was coughing a lot five years after giving birth. When the coworker disclosed that she had whooping cough, Lautenbach realized that her daughter’s cough and her own chronic cough might be connected. While pointing out that “for every person who walks around with whooping cough, there is somebody sitting within two desks of them in a closed office space who has a young child who is vulnerable,” Lautenbach does not place blame on that coworker.
