Despite being a disease more typical of the last century than of the digital era, another baby of less than two months dies from whooping cough, the second case of death of a newborn in a month, and hopefully the last. The Ministry of Health has confirmed that the girl, less than two months old, He has died last September at the Virgen del Rocío Hospital in Seville.
Recall in late October we also learned of the death of a 15-day-old baby from whooping cough, a disease that should be eradicated, or at least controlled. It is outrageous that babies die from easily preventable diseases with a simple vaccine. And not because parents decide not to vaccinate them, which is not the case, but because the vaccine is not available.
The pertussis vaccine is part of the hexavalent vaccine (together with tetanus, diphtheria, hepatitis B, etc.) and is given to babies at 2 months of age. It is a vaccine that produces very limited protection and must be re-administered at 4 and 6 months, again at 18 months and again at 4-6 years.
The little girl had not yet received the vaccine, since the age of administration is at two months the first dose. Until that age it could be covered by the mother's vaccination, since the antibodies pass through the placenta to protect the baby during the first months of life, until it can be vaccinated.
However, in this case, it is not known for sure if the mother had received the vaccine during pregnancy, most likely not, because It is not incorporated in the Andalusian vaccination calendar (at the moment only in Asturias, the Canary Islands, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Extremadura, Navarra and the Basque Country) it is very difficult, practically impossible to get it in pharmacies. The Andalusian Health Service (SAS) will incorporate the pertussis vaccine in pregnant women only as of January 1, 2016.
