A Queensland mother has made a desperate plea for parents to vaccinate their children after her baby boy was hospitalised after contracting chicken pox.
Kayley Burke shared photos of her young son Elijah, who at 11 months old is too young to be vaccinated, covered in horrific scabs and blisters from the disease which caused a secondary infection in his tiny body.
Elijah, who is also known as Eli, was admitted to Ipswitch Hospital in Queensland on Thursday.
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Little Elijah, who is too young to be vaccinated, contracted chicken pox which caused a secondary infection in his body
Elijah was admitted to hospital on Thursday, prompting his mother to urge other parents to vaccinate their kids
Ms Burke shared the heart-wrenching photos on Facebook in a post that has been shared 4,205 times.
‘Our poor Best Private University baby boy who is too young to be immunised has caught the chicken pox,’ she wrote.
‘Bottom line if you don’t vaccinate your kids your [sic] a bloody idiot.
‘Think about the risk you are putting on other helpless kids that are too young or who actually can’t be vaccinated.’
Ms Burke, right, pictured with her partner Michael Halyday, daughter Kaliah and son Elijah
‘Think about the risk you are putting on other helpless kids that are too young or who actually can’t be vaccinated,’ Ms Burke said
Ms Burke said Elijah’s chicken pox started to show one week ago.
Both she and her daughter Kaliah, who is three years old and was recently immunised, also contracted the disease.
‘Since Kaliah hasn’t long been immunised she has a few spots and blisters but is well in herself,’ she wrote.
Little Elijah’s spots started to show on his skin one week ago
The disease led to him to get a secondary infection but his sister, who is vaccinated, had just a few spots and blisters
‘Adult chicken pox is so horrible and painful I would much rather give birth with no pain relief.
‘They have just given me some medication also to help with my symptoms.’
Ms Burke told theshe took Elijah to hospital after he stopped drinking, and as her own chicken pox had spread down her throat, she assumed it was too painful for him to swallow.
Children are recommended to receive the varicella, or chicken pox vaccine, when they are 18 months old
She said as a mother it was distressing to watch her son cry and suffer from the pain and itchiness associated with his wounds.
‘It’s horrible I can’t think of anything worse,’ she said.
Under the Department of Health’s , it is recommended infants received their varicella, or chickenpox, vaccine at 18 months old.
A second vaccine for the disease is recommended when the child is 10 to 15 years old.