A 10-week-old baby from Jerusalem died of whooping cough after not being vaccinated, the Health Ministry announced Monday. An epidemiological investigation revealed that the baby's mother was also not vaccinated during pregnancy, contrary to doctors' recommendations.
The Ministry of Health announced that all contacts of the baby with other people had been examined and preventive treatment had been provided. The vaccine is supposed to provide antibodies to both mother and fetus against the infectious disease which claims the lives of an average of two babies in Israel every year.