KEY POINTS

  • The baby was born at least 14 weeks premature
  • The baby tested positive for COVID-19 just five days after her birth
  • Children are driving a recent surge of COVID-19 infections in the U.K.

An unvaccinated mother, whose premature baby died of COVID-19 last month, said she does not regret her decision to skip the jab.

Katie Leeming, 22, of Blackpool, Lancashire, was diagnosed with COVID-19 in early October. She was forced to give birth to Ivy-Rose on Oct. 13 after doctors detected reduced movement in her womb.

Ivy-Rose, who was at least 14 weeks premature, had been admitted to a specialist neonatal care unit where she tested positive for COVID-19 five days after her birth. She died on Oct. 22 due to severe respiratory distress syndrome, baby COVID positive and intraventricular hemorrhage.

Despite the outcome, Leeming said she did not have regrets about not getting vaccinated against COVID-19, noting that her partner caught the virus despite being fully vaccinated. She also said she did not get vaccinated after reading about “horror stories” on the effect of the vaccines on online forums.

“One lady said she had received the vaccination and that her baby was stillborn the week after. There obviously could have been other reasons for this, and the vaccine might not have caused it, but it scared me and put me off,” the mother-of-three told the Daily Mail.

“Just hearing the horror stories about women having miscarriages made me not want to take the risk. I don't know if it would have made a difference or not.”

Leeming’s friend Simone Threlfall has launched a fundraiser to help cover Ivy-Rose’s funeral cost. Leeming is hoping to send off her daughter with flowers and a horse-drawn carriage.

Britain is currently seeing a surge of COVID-19 infections caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant. However, the current surge is being driven largely by unvaccinated children between the ages of 10 to 14, who make up more than a third of all recent cases being reported, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

Unlike most countries in Europe, the United Kingdom only began vaccinating adolescents aged 12 to 15 in mid-September. By then, many students had already returned to school from their summer vacation.

As of Nov. 12, at least 90% of people aged 12 and older in the U.K. have received one dose of COVID-19, and 80% have been fully vaccinated, according to BBC.

The U.K. has so far reported 9,608,568 COVID-19 cases and 143,337 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

As of mid-November 2021, about 68 percent of the US popuation, and 81 percent of adults, had received at least one dose of a vaccine against Covid-19
As of mid-November 2021, about 68 percent of the US popuation, and 81 percent of adults, had received at least one dose of a vaccine against Covid-19 AFP / Frederic J. BROWN
RELATED STORIES
Coronavirus