A MUM has warned all parents to vaccinate their kids after her son spent his first birthday in hospital.
As little Levi Dale turned one he was fighting for his life having been diagnosed with measles, sepsis, meningitis and encephalitis.
At 11 months old, Levi was too young to have his first MMR jab.
But, mum Sophie told the Victoria Derbyshire show, she had made the decision to get her son vaccinated as soon as he reached 12 months old.
Now, she is urging all parents to vaccinate their kids, to help protect other, more vulnerable babies like Levi.
She said: “It’s ridiculous that people aren’t vaccinating.
“All I could say to parents that don’t vaccinate is imagine if I’d chosen not to vaccinate Levi and that had happened I’d never have been able to forgive myself.
“Living with that afterwards would have been horrific – especially if it had have been worse.”
It comes after it was revealed childhood vaccination rates have plummeted across England – with uptake of all 13 key jabs falling in the past year.
At just 11 months old, little Levi was just a month away from getting the measles, mumps and rubella jab (MMR), as in the UK it is usually administered at 12 months.
Despite this, Sophie admits she previously had reservations about vaccinating Levi due to horror stories from other mums.
Speaking on the Victoria Derbyshire show on BBC2 this morning, she said: “I’d heard lots of negative implications from vaccines through third parties.
“One mum was quite worried about it, she’d said a friend of a friend’s son had stopped talking when he’d got his MMR and had stayed that brain age.
“There are just stories that you read on social media about children getting autism and suddenly their whole personality changes over night.
“I was just scared and I wasn’t sure what to do.”
All I could say to parents that don’t vaccinate is imagine if I’d chosen not to vaccinate Levi and that had happened I’d never have been able to forgive myself
Sophie Dale
Despite this, the fact Levi was not vaccinated had horrifying consequences for him – as he was left fighting for his life at 11 months old.
Sophie first suspected something was wrong with Levi when she spotted a rash on his feet which quickly spread.
Sophie said: “We’d been Christmas shopping and I noticed he had a rash on his feet.
“And then when I changed his nappy it just covered the rest of his body.”
Sophie took Levi to the out of hours doctors who turned them away and said it was viral.
However, she was sent to A&E by her local GP the next day when his skin turned a “brown colour”.
This time he was diagnosed with measles but was once again sent home.
Despite this, just over a week later things took a turn for the worst.
Sophie added: “12 days later he basically just went floppy and had a temperature of 40.6C.
“I couldn’t get it down with Calpol and so me and my mum called an ambulance after he’d had a convulsion.
“They blue lighted him by ambulance with suspected sepsis and he then was treated for meningitis, encephalitis and sepsis.
“He was in hospital for six days and it was the infections from the measles that caused his body and his immune system to shut down.”
Levi was given intensive treatment at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and even spent his first birthday there.
According to the NHS website, these are the routine vaccinations that are offered to babies and children in the UK:
MMR vaccine – protects your child against three separate illnesses: measles, mumps and rubella/
6-in-1 vaccine – protects against six serious childhood diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) and hepatitis B.
Pneumoccocal or pneumo jab (PCV) – protects against some types of pneumococcal infection, which are caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae and can lead to pneumonia, septicaemia and meningitis.
Rotavirus vaccine – protects against rotavirus infection, a common cause of diarrhoea and sickness.
Men B vaccine – protects against infection caused by meningococcal type B bacteria, which can lead to meningitis and septicaemia.
Hib/Men C vaccine – prevents against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and meningitis C infections, which can be serious or potentially fatal.
Children’s flu vaccine – protects against flu which can have potentially serious complications, including bronchitis and pneumonia.
4-in-1 pre-school booster – protects against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and polio.
HPV vaccine (girls only) – designed to protect girls against cervical cancer.
3-in-1 teenage booster – used to boost your child’s protection against three separate diseases: tetanus, diphtheria and polio.
Men ACWY vaccine – teenagers and “fresher” students going to university are advised to have a vaccination to prevent meningitis and septicaemia.
Sophie said: “He missed his first birthday as well – his first birthday was spent over machines.”
Fortunately, Levi has since made a full recovery but his mum is keen to warn other parents about the dangers of not vaccinating their children.
She said: “The worst thing you can do is just do nothing.”
It comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the deadly drop in immunisation levels was “unacceptable”.
The proportion of kids protected against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) has dropped for the sixth consecutive year.
And levels of coverage for the 6-in-1 jab – which protects against diseases including diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and hepatitis B – hit a ten-year low.
Experts fear a mix of complacency and social media scare stories are putting people off life-saving jabs.
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