Baby Dies Of Whooping Cough After Mother Not Vaccinated While Pregnant

A babe whose mother was not vaccinated against whooping cough while pregnant has died aft contracting nan infection, nan UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said.

The death, which occurred betwixt January and June 2025, is nan first fatal lawsuit of whooping cough successful nan UK this year.

It follows authorities warnings astir debased vaccine uptake, including among children, arsenic good arsenic an summation successful vaccine hesitancy.

None of nan main puerility vaccines successful England reached nan uptake target of 95% past year, caller information from nan wellness agency showed.

Whooping cough is simply a bacterial infection of nan lungs and airways which tin beryllium fatal, peculiarly for babies. Eleven infants died of nan unwellness successful 2024.

Pregnant women, arsenic good arsenic infants and young children, are advised to get vaccinated against it. The uptake among pregnant women presently stands astatine 72.6%.

The UKHSA says vaccination during pregnancy, introduced successful precocious 2012, is "key to passively protecting babies" successful their first weeks of life. Infants are first offered a jab which protects against whooping cough astatine 8 weeks old.

Thirty-three infants person died of nan unwellness since 2013 - 27 of whom had mothers who had not received nan jab successful pregnancy.

The UKHSA's lawman head Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam said the lawsuit was a reminder of "how terrible whooping cough tin beryllium for very young babies".

She continued: "Vaccination is nan champion defence against whooping cough and it is captious that pregnant women and young infants person their vaccines astatine nan correct time, ideally betwixt 20 and 32 weeks."

The wellness agency and ministers person precocious warned of declining vaccine uptake among children.

Last year, nan stock of five-year-olds who had received 1 dose of nan MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine remained astatine its lowest level since 2010/11, astatine 91.9%.

The uptake complaint for some doses - 83.7% - was astatine its lowest since 2009/10.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends astatine slightest 95% of children should person vaccine doses to execute herd immunity.

Poor uptake of nan MMR vaccine was blamed for a emergence successful bales cases earlier this year. In July, a kid died astatine Alder Hey Children's Hospital after contracting nan illness.

The authorities this week said each young children successful nan UK would beryllium offered a free chickenpox vaccine by nan NHS from January 2026.

Health curate Stephen Kinnock told nan BBC that nan authorities was concerned astir vaccine uptake and hesitancy, which he said had accrued aft nan Covid-19 pandemic.

He said campaigns explaining "the benefits of getting vaccinated and nan truth that this is 100% safe" would beryllium brought guardant arsenic nan authorities sought to "win this conflict against nan conspiracy theorists".