My baby died of a Victorian-era disease when vaccination rates for the disease in the US plummeted

A mother has revealed her heartbreak after losing her baby due to severe coughing just weeks after he was born.

Kathryn Alcaide, of Chicopee, Massachusetts, said her son Brady was born healthy in November 2012, weighing 5 pounds, but the following January started developing whooping cough symptoms that “looked like a cold.”

Mrs. Alcaide and her husband, Jon, took Brady to the emergency room when his fever rose to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and things gradually worsened over the next two weeks. The boy’s lungs collapsed, then his heart stopped.

He was diagnosed with whooping cough, a Victorian-era bacterial infection, and died aged just two months.

While Brady died a decade ago, his parents are speaking out again as whooping cough causes a deadly resurgence in the US.

Cases of the highly contagious disease, also known as whooping cough, have more than quadrupled since this time last year, when around 3,500 cases were reported. So far in 2024, the CDC has confirmed this more than 19,600 cases.

Mrs. Alcaide told me Newsweek: ‘The increase in cases reminds us how important it is for people to stay up to date on their vaccinations, not only for their own health, but also to protect those who are too young or medically incapacitated to get vaccinated.

“No family should have to endure the loss of a child due to something that could have been prevented.”

The Alcaide family encourages all parents to have their children vaccinated against preventable diseases such as whooping cough. Photo courtesy of Kathryn Alcaide

Whooping cough is especially dangerous for infants and young children, but babies Brady’s age are not eligible for the vaccine.

The CDC recommends that children receive three doses of the Tdap vaccine. The injection protects against diphtheria, whooping cough – preferably cough – and tetanus. One dose is given at two months of age, one at four months of age and one at six months of age.

Two additional doses are given to children between 15 and 18 months old and between four and six years old.

However, vaccination rates among young children fell during the pandemic and never fully recovered. By the time they turned two, about 82 percent of babies born in 2018 and 2019 all four received age-appropriate recommended doses of the vaccine.

That percentage dropped to 79 percent among babies born in 2020 and 2021.

To reach the herd immunity threshold, an estimated 92 to 94 percent of people need to be vaccinated.

Parents have their own reasons for abstaining from school-required vaccines, including religious reasons, and they can request an exemption from the school district in that case.

The number of routine vaccinations fell during the Covid pandemic as schools were moved to remote platforms and children spent little time with other people. Since then, vaccination numbers have struggled to recover.

Some parents raise concerns about the safety of vaccines, sometimes citing debunked claims that certain vaccines have been linked to autism in children, despite extensive evidence to the contrary.

Whooping cough is uncommon, which means many parents see it as a minor threat and therefore not worth vaccinating against.

Ms Alcaide said: ‘It is heartbreaking and frustrating to hear that the number of cases of whooping cough is increasing, especially as this is a vaccine preventable disease.’

In early January 2013, Brady developed a debilitating cough. It was so bad that he had trouble breathing.

About a week after Brady’s pediatrician diagnosed the child with a bad cold and sent the family home to recover, Brady was admitted to the hospital, where his condition improved only briefly.

Brady had periods where he could breathe without an oxygen tube, and doctors tried to feed him without using a tube. But after eight days, Mrs. Alcaide said At the time, Brady was “still doing the same thing.”

Brady is held by his father Jon shortly after his birth. Brady became ill in January 2013 and was hospitalized. About a week after he went to the hospital, his heart stopped and doctors were unable to save him

One day before he passed away in January 2013, Mrs. Alcaide said: ‘We are now at Boston Children’s Hospital, Brady is in critical condition, his heart stopped and they had to give him compressions.

‘We are waiting to see him. They placed him on a heart and lung bypass machine. They worry about brain injuries; Please pray that one day he will be a healthy boy playing baseball. I’ll try to update as much as possible.’

She added after his death: ‘People don’t think much about diseases like whooping cough these days. I know that before I experienced this nightmare, I would never have imagined that this could happen and that even the best medical care could not help.”

Whooping cough is most dangerous for babies under two months of age, who are too young to be vaccinated.

Between 15 and 20 percent of babies develop pneumonia, two to four percent have seizures and one in a hundred die.

Since their son’s death, Kathy and Jon have become advocates for childhood vaccinations, knowing that Brady likely became ill because someone in close contact with him was not vaccinated and unknowingly carried the virus.

A major benefit of widespread vaccine coverage is herd immunity – a phenomenon that occurs when a large number of people are vaccinated against a virus.

This limits the spread so that vulnerable people who are too young or medically unable to be vaccinated are still protected.

The Alcaides are urging people to have their children vaccinated against as many as coughs and other preventable diseases such as measles: ‘Vaccines are safe, effective and they are the best way to protect our loved ones and communities. It is a choice that really makes a difference.’

She added, “We have always said that if sharing Brady’s story could save even one life, it would bring a sense of purpose and positivity to our loss.”