UK reports first infant death from whooping cough this year

A baby whose mother had not been vaccinated against whooping cough has died after contracting the infection, the UK Health Security Agency said, in the first fatal UK case recorded this year. The infant, believed to be under one year old, became unwell and died sometime between January and June, UKHSA figures show; some agency reports specify the period as between March and June. UKHSA deputy director Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam offered condolences to the family and urged pregnant women to be vaccinated to protect newborns.

Whooping cough, or pertussis, is a highly infectious bacterial disease of the lungs and airways that can be deadly for very young babies. Since the maternal vaccination programme began in late 2012, UKHSA data show 33 infants have died of confirmed whooping cough; of those, 27 were born to mothers who had not received the vaccine in pregnancy. Infants are often too young to receive their own full protection and rely on antibodies transferred from vaccinated mothers, which UKHSA advises are best passed on when the jab is administered between 20 and 32 weeks of pregnancy.

The death comes amid widening concern over falling vaccine uptake across the UK. UKHSA...