Five babies have died from the infection amid a rise in cases in the UK.
A leading vaccine expert says he is "very worried" by the large increase in whooping cough cases which have led to
"Very important - for this very vulnerable group, those who are too young to be vaccinated - is the vaccination rate in pregnant women," he added. "The troubling thing is that if we continue to have high rates of spread and low rates of vaccination, there will be more babies severely affected, and sadly there will be more deaths," Prof Pollard said.A steady decline in uptake of the vaccine and the very low number of infections seen during the pandemic, were both factors in the rise in cases, the UK Health Security Agency said.
Uptake of the maternal pertussis vaccine, which is offered during every pregnancy and provides some protection to babies in the first few months of life, has also dropped.After about a week, the infection can develop into coughing bouts that last a few minutes and are typically worse at night.The bacterial infection spreads through coughs and sneezes.
Prof Kamila Hawthorne, who chairs the Royal College of GPs, said it was "highly concerning" that such a high number of whooping cough cases had been confirmed.
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