Whooping cough: Parents release video of baby’s last moments to raise awareness of vaccine

Riley Hughes died on March 17th 2015 at just four weeks old

Parents have released footage that shows their one-month-old son’s last few days, in a bid to promote awareness of a whooping cough vaccine.

Riley Hughes’ four weeks of life came to an end after suffering from whooping cough, an illness that could have been treated by a pre-natal vaccination.

Accompanying the video, Riley’s mother, Catherine Hughes, writes “I have always kept these videos to myself, as it makes my blood run cold listening to my beautiful boy cough like that.”

Posting on a Facebook page dedicated to her son, Mrs Hughes writes how she hopes lives can be saved in the future through her sharing of the video.

“We are sharing this in the hopes that it will convince just one more pregnant mum to protect their baby from this disease. I wish I had known about pregnancy vaccination when I was pregnant with Riley,” she wrote.

Vaccinating during pregnancy can provide some protection against whooping cough, however the first vaccine once born cannot be delivered until the baby is six weeks old.

The Hughes family live in Australia, which experienced a surge in whooping cough cases that saw some state governments, including Victoria and West Australia, introduce free vaccinations for pregnant women and in some cases parents, partners and guardians too.

Anyone coming into contact with a baby under the age of eight weeks is encouraged to have a whooping cough booster, with the vaccination needing to be repeated every 10 years.