The mother of a Perth baby who died from whooping cough says she is concerned vulnerable parents will be influenced by a controversial anti-vaccination billboard that has been erected in the Perth CBD.

The billboard on the corner of Brisbane and William streets depicts a woman with textbooks and the question: “Do you know what’s in a vaccine?”

It provides a link to the radical American anti-vaccination group Learn the Risk.

Catherine Hughes has been a vocal advocate for the importance of vaccination since her son Riley died aged only 32 days due to whooping cough.

Through the Light For Riley campaign, she has sought to raise awareness around vaccinations, including the need for pregnant women to be immunised against diseases.

“To be honest I’m pretty surprised that somebody was willing to accept money from the anti-vaccine lobby to display this billboard,” Mrs Hughes told Sunrise.

“I was really disappointed as a parent who lost a child to a vaccine-preventable disease because they were too young to to be vaccinated.

“I’d really hate for another parent to go through a similar experience simply because they’d been scared into not vaccinating...and that’s what this sign is trying to do.

“We know these anti-vaccine groups in the US are quite well organised and established. It seems to be like their mission is to come outside of the US and spread their fears of vaccination in other countries.

“The more billboards they have in the world the more money they are going to make.”

Camera Icon Catherine Hughes, with daughter Lucy, has become an advocate for the importance of vaccinations. Credit: Ross Swanborough

Mrs Hughes urged parents and parents-to-be to be concerned about diseases - rather than immunisations.

“I think signs like this try to make parents worried about what’s in the vaccines but I want parents to think about what’s in these diseases,” she said.

“My son was unvaccinated but he was too young and he contracted whooping cough and it wrecked his body.

“It destroyed his organs. And that’s what we should be afraid of, the diseases that we can prevent with vaccination.”

WA Health Minister Roger Cook has asked for an investigation as to whether the billboard might be deemed a health risk and removed.

The Australian Medical Association has also complained to the government about the sign.

The Learn the Risk website claims it is a US-based, non-profit organisation with a global mission “for educating people worldwide on the dangers of pharmaceutical products, including vaccines and unnecessary medical treatments”.

It states it was founded by a former pharmaceutical insider Brandy Vaughan, an ex-Merck sales executive who “felt she had no choice when the industry’s agenda to keep us all sick began to spiral out of control”.

- with Cathy O’Leary