The whooping cough, or pertussis epidemic is getting worse in California, and to help quell the spread of the disease locally, the City of SF Public Health Department is offering $25 vaccines at their Adult Immunization Clinic -- $10 if you're someone who lives or works in close proximity to infants.

As the Examiner reports, there have been 31 cases of pertussis reported so far this year in the city, up already from a total of 20 in 2009. The disease is especially deadly to infants whose immune systems can't fight it, and who are not able to be immunized until the age of six months.

Though we at SFist are sympathetic to those with children who fear the whole vaccination thing and believe Jenny McCarthy when she says that your child will become autistic if s/he is vaccinated, we mostly, actually, side with the doctors on this one and say yes, vaccination is a good and healthy example of medical advancement. Whooping cough is a case in point. Let's not bring back polio, K?