We’ll call the midwives to give whooping cough jab to babies, say Labour

BABIES would be vaccinated by health visitors under Labour plans to tackle outbreaks of whooping cough and measles.

At the moment health visitors – who are registered nurses or midwives – refer babies and toddlers to GPs for the vaccines.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has drawn up plans for the domestic healthcare workers to administer the jabs themselves.

Labour sources said this would help improve take-up rates, which have fallen – in part down to pressures on the health service.

Five babies have died of whooping cough this year, amid fears of the worst outbreak in 40 years. All were less than three months old. Nearly 3,000 cases have been reported this year – three times the total for the whole of 2023.

Experts blame the surge on a fall in vaccination uptake, a less effective jab and reduced community immunity following lockdowns.

As contagious as measles, whooping cough – also known as pertussis or the ‘100-day cough’ – can be severe in babies under six months and lead to long-term problems. Mr Streeting described the crisis in child vaccination rates is ‘storing up illnesses for the next generation.’ He said Labour would train thousands more health visitors, as well as changing the rules to allow them to administer jabs.

Asked how much this would cost, a Labour source said it could be done by updating existing health visitor training.

The plans are also designed to free up GPs and help clear waiting lists. Health visitors deliver services for children until they are five years old – particularly during the early weeks of their life.

Labour also plan to digitise the ‘Red Book’ child’s health record of to allow it to send reminders to parents to book vaccinations.

The NHS provides vaccines for babies at 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 16 weeks and then at one year and three years old. They include the whooping cough jab and the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Under the plans, these would be given by health visitors.

Sources said Labour are also looking at putting midwives in charge of vaccinating all pregnant women against whooping cough.

Fewer than six in ten expectant mothers had the jab in December 2023 and the proportion of babies who are unvaccinated has doubled in the past decade, leaving children at higher risk.

NHS data shows 7.2 per cent of babies last year did not receive all their doses of the 6-in-1 vaccine, which protects against whooping cough, nearly double the 3.9 per cent recorded a decade earlier.

Alison Morton, chief executive of the Institute of Health Visiting, said allowing health visitors to administer vaccines ‘makes sense’ adding: ‘They would have to have additional training but many health visitors would welcome that.’

She said: ‘Delighted Labour wants to rebuild the workforce. We have seen nine years of cuts – while need has gone through the roof.’

Mr Streeting said: ‘It is a tragedy that five children have died from whooping cough and there can be no clearer sign of Britain’s decline under the Tories than falling vaccination rates. The crisis we see today in child health is storing up illnesses for the next generation.

‘Labour will ensure children born today are part of the healthiest generation that ever lived.’