Overview

• UKHSA confirmed an infant under one died after becoming ill between March and June, the first pertussis fatality reported in the UK this year, and reports say the child's mother was not vaccinated.
• Surveillance data record 502 whooping cough cases so far this year to June, including eight infections in babies under three months old.
• England saw 14,894 laboratory-confirmed cases in 2024 and 11 infant deaths, highlighting a sharp rise from 2023.
• UKHSA’s Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam urged pregnant women to receive the vaccine ideally at 20–32 weeks to pass protection to their newborns from birth.
• Vaccination coverage has dropped below WHO herd-immunity thresholds, with school-entry uptake at its lowest in years and MMR protection at about 83.7% following a recent measles death in Liverpool.