A mother is urging pregnant women to take advantage of a new vaccine rollout after she watched “helplessly” as her newborn baby contracted a serious virus. Alice Cook’s daughter Henrietta became seriously ill with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and required emergency hospital treatment at just three weeks old.
“Henrietta being in hospital was so scary and I wouldn’t wish any other family to go through what we did,” Ms Cook said.
The UK Health Security Agency and Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is offering the vaccine to women over 28 weeks pregnant from 1 September
RSV infects about 90% of children within the first two years of life. The virus is a leading cause of infant mortality globally, and accounts for approximately 20,000 hospital admissions in children under one. It typically causes mild, cold-like symptoms which can lead to severe lung infections like pneumonia and infant bronchiolitis.
The JCVI is predicting take-up of the vaccine to be about 60%, which it hopes could result in 70,000 fewer RSV illnesses in infants. Ms Cook has urged more mothers to get on board.
“As there is no medication you can give for RSV, I felt helpless and it really was a waiting game of whether she would recover,” she said.
“Nine months on, Henrietta is now a happy and healthy baby, but those first few weeks of her life were incredibly tough, and not how I pictured the newborn bubble to be. I would encourage all pregnant women to take up the RSV vaccine.
Source: BBC
In other news – Paralympic torch heads to Paris via Channel Tunnel
The build-up to the 2024 Summer Paralympic Games in Paris has seen the torch cross from England to France via the Channel Tunnel.
After being lit in Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the Paralympic movement, the flame is making the journey to Paris to mark the start of the games. Read more
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