Abstract: Pertussis or whooping cough is a communicable disease of early childhood but persons of all ages are susceptible. Until recently this disease was protected by use of Whole Cell Vaccines (WCV), which have been used world wide for more than 50 years. However, undesirable effects attributed to these vaccines led to the development of acellular component vaccines for pertussis. Safety data from several studies show that the acellular vaccines are better-tolerated then whole-cell vaccines and have shown to be efficacious in preventing pertussis. The adverse reaction such as seizers and convulsion are more frequent after whole-cell vaccines where as after acellular vaccines these symptoms are obvious only after 4th and 5th dose although are not harmful, do not cause long-term neurological damage or allergy and are self-limiting. Vaccine types, immunization schedules, compliance and age are not uniform in many parts of the globe. Parents and health-care workers need to be given full information regarding risks and efficacy of pertussis vaccination.