According to a new U.N. Children's Fund, UNICEF, report 1.4 million children under five years of age die unnecessarily each year from measles, whooping cough or tetanus.

"Everybody thought that we were progressing so well that we would just continue to progress. But in fact that did not happen," Dr Peter Salama, UNICEF's chief of immunization, told a news conference

According to the state Department of Health Services, almost three times as many whooping cough cases have been reported in California this year, when compared to 2004.

In August, the state saw 1,276 cases and four infant deaths. The same period in 2004 period saw 450 cases and two deaths