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Mum urges pregnant women to take up RSV vaccine

BBC Alice Cook wearing a white blouse and sitting on her living room floor beside her baby, Henrietta, who is wearing a pink stripey baby grow and smiling at the camera. BBC
Alice Cook's daughter Henrietta fell seriously ill at just three weeks old

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.

UK Health Security Agency A three week old baby lying on a blanket in hospital with medical tubes up her nose. She has her eyes closed and her arms up by her side UK Health Security Agency
Henrietta was given oxygen and feeding tubes after developing a cough, fever and struggling to breathe on her own

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."

Carmen Murillo standing in the street holding her three month old daughter, who is wrapped in a white blanket. Carmen has mid-length brown hair and is wearing thin framed glasses and smiling, wearing a knitted cream jumper
Carmen Murillo gave birth to her daughter three months ago

Carmen Murillo, from Bristol, said she would have had the vaccine if it had been available when she was pregnant with her daughter.

“I had all my vaccinations when I was pregnant with her, and I think it’s a brilliant idea," she said.

“If it’s what my baby needs, I would just go for it."

Dr Matthew Dominey from NHS England South West said he appreciated some mothers may feel reluctant, but the vaccine had been extensively tested and proven to be safe.

He said: "We are hopeful that this vaccine will prevent an awful lot of infants having to go to hospital, thus freeing up capacity and time in hospitals to treat other infants and making sure those poorly babies don't suffer."

In addition to the maternal vaccine programme, a free RSV vaccine will be offered to people turning 75 on or after 1 September.

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