"No child should go through that," says Gwynne of RSV campaign

Gorton and Denton MP Andrew Gwynne is calling on pregnant women to be vaccinated against an illness that almost killed his grandson.

Gwynne and his wife, Denton North East councillor Allison, are special guardians of Lyle, who contracted respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and was put on life support just weeks after he was born in 2019. 

RSV is something most children catch before their second birthday, and in most cases its symptoms are no more serious than a cold. 

However, it can be especially dangerous to premature babies or infants less than six months old, and lead to pneumonia or bronchiolitis: a lung infection that causes air passages in a child’s lungs to swell. 

“He fell ill with cold-like symptoms,” Andrew said at the launch of a new RSV vaccination campaign. “Very quickly his breathing deteriorated, and he was blue lighted in an ambulance to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, who were incredible. 

“It was just a traumatic time seeing Lyle in intensive care, in an induced coma with an oscillator and all kinds of machinery trying to keep him alive. No child should have to go through that. 

“30,000 infants a year go through this, and for 20 or 30 families, they lose their baby needlessly, because RSV is entirely preventable. 

“I would just say to any expectant mum, take the vaccine, because I don’t want you to lose your precious baby as we almost did with Lyle.” 

The NHS recommends an RSV vaccination for women who are in their third trimester of pregnancy - 28 weeks onwards – which helps protect newborns for a few months. 

RSV can also seriously affect the elderly, with the NHS advising a jab for those aged between 75 and 79.