Another baby dead of whooping cough

[PaminaMozart]

I'm not pregnant - too old - but wanted to draw attention to the fact that 10 babies have died in England since last November. It seems the rate of vaccinated mothers has declined from 72.6% to just 58,9% over the past 7 years:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/aug/08/whooping-cough-baby-dies-england-ukhsa

Babies can first be vaccinated against the disease when eight weeks old, while pregnant women are advised to get the vaccine at between 16 and 32 weeks.

I was lucky that GP did do childhood vaccinations but even then I could understand people not wanting to wait standing outside GP surgery with a small child for an hour which was my experience each time as no one was allowed in to waiting room and they were always running massively late.

Offered in both pregnancies (2021/2022 and 2024) and took it, had a Covid booster for first one but wasn’t offered for second. An old boss of mine refused the whooping cough vaccine for his baby and she ended up in intensive care for weeks with it and luckily didn’t die, but it was very touch and go. My friend who worked during Covid told me about how many pregnant women ended up in intensive care with either them, their baby, or both dying. These Google “researchers” have a lot to answer for

Just woke people using instagram to get their medical advice from. It’s so frustrating as it just adds strain on an already creaking healthcare system.

A colleague told me she opts out of vaccines because she thinks “natural immunity” is better. This is what natural immunity looks like.

My two year old son recently had whooping cough. I was vaccinated during pregnancy and pretty sure he was vaccinated in his baby vaccines. He didn't have it badly and wasn't too unwell so I'm really glad he had the vaccines now.

DH who can't remember if he's vaccinated or not caught it and was actually quite unwell, three courses of antibiotics getting progressively stronger! So I guess that shows how serious it can be

I agree the problem is it's circulating in the community but not being caught by GPS who are completely missing the signs. I had to insist it was whooping cough to be tested, they missed all the signs with my son. Equally, the fact that the vaccine only lasts 10 years is kept well secret. Happened in my family. I'll be getting the vaccine every 10 years now, and not passing it on to small babies.

Both my pregnancies were pre-covid.
With hindsight I don’t think my first midwife was great, she always mentioned whooping cough and flu vaccine together, and since I was due in the middle of summer and I’ve never had a flu vaccine (or had flu) I declined.
In both pregnancies I don’t recall anyone ever asking why I said no, which would have given them the opportunity to correct my misunderstanding that it was a seasonal virus that I wasn’t particularly at risk of.

I've had the whooping cough jab for both my pregnancies and will do for this one.
Haven't bothered with flu and covid jabs for my own personal reasons.
It's not an all or nothing which some people have sadly turned it into which has led to the rise in these diseases :(

I got offered and given it in 2012 too

Woke isn't the word for being anti-vaccine. Woke means awake or aware. Being anti-vaccine is the opposite of Woke.

Yes but they consider themselves woke is what I mean…

Well it they do, they don't know what the word means either. In this country it's generally right leaning conspiracy theorists that are anti-vaxers. The same people who refused to follow covid guidelines and harp on about the main stream media while getting their 'information' from YouTube

Agreed. I saw a tweet from Mia Farrow recently, responding to one from or about the odious Trump, who seemed to be promising to make it illegal for US schools to insist on children having vaccinations (unless medically indicated, I asume). She was saying that she had polio as a child and survived, but what a boon the vaccination had been in saving lives and preventing disability. I could hardly believe my eyes to see the pushback she was getting - diehard antivaxxers denying that the vaccination was the reason polio was almost wiped out. What's the matter with these people? Don't they care that they will have blood on their hands? Whether to have a vaccination or not is a medical decision, to be taken by the patient or the patient's parents/guardians, acting on clear, evidence-based advice from a health care professional, taking into account the patient's specific medical history. Conspiracy theories should be playing no part. Not everyone can safely be vaccinated which is all the more reason why the rest of us who can should go ahead, so we protect the more vulnerable members of our community.

He's a complete loon.

It could have been a different strain and you may have had a lesser bout - I had whooping cough at 4 and again at 47, DH also caught it off me and was only quite mildly unwell (vaxed) I had a pretty bad time, took a good 8-9 months to be able to get lung capacity back and was off work on and off for 4 months

It would be much better if midwives could administer the vaccines during routine appointments. I know one hospital near us offers it when you're there for your 20 week scan which is a good idea. I had to contact my GP and get it there - I'm pretty diligent and also flexible with my work, but I can imagine this extra step would mean many women wouldn't get it.

I know she is on many things, but she's right about this. ETA: posted before I saw the edit from she to he!

My trust does at 20 week scan, they go through it and give you information at 12 week and then if you want it it's done at 20 week scan. Wasn't always like this when I had my first I had to book in at GPs to have it done which as we know can be a faf.

You do realise Vaccinations are not 100% effective. Some babies will still die from exposure who are vaccinated. The disease still infects the body and still spreads. Some 0eople wipp jave coverage from vaccination amd some won't regardless of how many jabs they have.

I had a friend who died of Meningitis despite being fully vaccinated for it.

If pregnant people weren't declining vaccines, newborns wouldn't be getting whooping cough. That's the whole point ffs.

That’s like saying ‘contraceptives aren’t 100% effective. Why bother?’. We know they aren’t but it’s better than not getting vaccinated - which is 0% effective against meningitis and whooping cough.

Maybe it depends on your area because I have a 4 month old baby and all of my midwives sort of made out it was “opt out” rather than “opt in”. It was assumed you’d have it unless you said otherwise. I had mine and not sure why on earth you wouldn’t if you took even a few minutes to speak to a health professional about it.

Yes of course that is obvious, but my point is about why it's running rife in the community overall. We still need to protect the babies who didn't get the antibodies for whatever reason. And overall it's an extremely distressing illness which even if not deadly for older children and adults, we don't top up the vaccine for it even though it wanes, and it leads to missed schooling and work. Ffs

Til tok etc spreading lies.