Fears as five babies die from preventable disease that can be vaccinated against

Five babies in England have died after being diagnosed with whooping cough, health officials have said amid a rapid rise in cases.

More than 2,700 whooping cough cases have been reported across England so far in 2024 – more than three times the amount recorded in the whole of last year. New UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) figures show there were 2,793 cases reported to the end of March.

This is compared with the 858 cases for the whole of 2023. The UKHSA said that between January and the end of March, there have been five infant deaths.

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“Whooping cough can affect people of all ages but for very young babies it can be extremely serious,” said UKHSA consultant epidemiologist Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam.

“Our thoughts and condolences are with those families who have so tragically lost their baby.”

It comes as rates of childhood immunisation have been falling for the last decade, including for routine infant vaccinations such as measles, mumps and rubella (MMR). The latest published data for the North West, from October to December 2023, shows almost 15% of children were not fully vaccinated with two doses against measles, mumps and rubella by the time they started school.

Uptake of both doses of vaccine, which is usually given to children aged one and then a second vaccine at around three years and four months, is 85.2% in the North West – and lower than 80% in some areas – which like many parts of the country is significantly lower than the World Health Organisation target of 95% coverage with two doses of MMR vaccine by five years.

In the north west, uptake of the six-in-one