What really killed the four infants during the NSW pertussis epidemic in 1996-97? By Dr Viera Scheibner It must be obvious to an objective observer that all these babies contracted whooping cough from their vaccinated mothers, and/or siblings who suffered whooping cough at the crucial time, and, clearly, started deteriorating and died shortly after being administered intravenous antibiotics. They would have been better off staying at home and given nothing, particularly those who were breastfed. It is also obvious (this word is a rarity in medicine) that they developed whooping cough because of the lack of transplacentally-transmitted immunity since their mothers were vaccinated in their childhood. The vaccination obviously failed to protect the mothers and siblings.