Play Video Replay Video Play Video Don't Play Anti-vax mother's agony A Gold Coast mother has spoken out over her decision to decline the Whooping Cough vaccine, and the resulting serious illness of her first child. Vision courtesy Gold Coast Health.

A mother who chose not to have the whooping cough vaccine during pregnancy because she was "fit and healthy" has pleaded with other women not to make the same mistake.

The Queensland woman, only identified as Cormit, has appeared in a Gold Coast Health video on Facebook to explain the heartbreak of seeing her newborn daughter Eva battle potentially deadly whooping cough (or pertussis).

Cormit caught whooping cough in the last weeks of pregnancy and passed the highly contagious disease on to her daughter. While Cormit's symptoms were only mild, baby Eva's battle left her in gravely ill in intensive care.

​"I was a healthy pregnant woman, worked out, went to gym, ate very healthy, had a natural birth, and somehow in the last two weeks of my pregnancy I managed to get whooping cough. I didn't know," Cormit says in the video.

"Eva was diagnosed with whooping cough and it is a nightmare. She was a bit coughy, but within two weeks the cough became very scary - a horror movie - turning blue, going floppy in my hands, running to hospital.

"She ended up in intensive care. With a baby that just coughs and coughs and coughs ... it's so hard to watch your tiny little thing.

"They go red, they go blue, and sometimes they go black, and then for a moment you think they are dead in your hands. They flop.

"A lot of suffering for a tiny little thing you love so much."


Whooping cough vaccinations during pregnancy have been shown to benefit babies by passing protection from the disease from mother to the baby before birth. This is particularly beneficial in the first months of life when newborns are too young to be vaccinated against the disease themselves.

In the video Cormit tells how she chose not to have the vaccine despite medical staff offering it to her when pregnant, a decision she now regrets.

"I was offered the injection in week 28, being the healthy, fit organic woman that I am I said 'leave me alone', I said 'I don't need this crap'.

"I got over [whooping cough] very quick ... but she is into week four and every hour I have to stay here watch her going blue, watch her go blue, watch her cry, and give her oxygen.

"She is my only child and if I could turn back time I would have protected myself, so that's my message."

The woman's emotional video was welcomed by Perth woman Catherine Hughes, whose baby son Riley died from whooping cough at just 32 days old last year.

"This is the reality of whooping cough - vulnerable babies are born with no protection against the disease unless mums receive a booster in their third trimester, and this disease is all over our communities," Mrs Hughes wrote when sharing the video on the Light For Riley Facebook page.

"Nine out of 10 babies who contract it will be hospitalised, many needing intensive care. When Riley was hospitalised, I was told to be prepared for several weeks in there. In reality, we left without him in our arms at all."

Following baby Riley's death last March, Mrs Hughes and husband Greg worked hard to ensure lessons were learnt from their son's death.

As a result of their campaigning all Australian states now offer a free whooping cough vaccine to pregnant women during the third trimester of their pregnancy. According to health authorities the vaccine should ideally be given between 28 and 32 weeks gestation, however it can be given up until delivery.