5-Month-Old Boy Contracts COVID-19 From Fully Vaccinated Family Member

A 5-month-old Texas boy is battling the deadly COVID-19, which he reportedly contracted from a fully vaccinated family member.

Kristy Callaway, from Corpus Christi in Houston, was 37 weeks pregnant when she tested positive for COVID-19.

"We were so careful and I thought we were doing all the right things," Callaway said.

She said the deadly virus was brought home by her husband, an essential worker.

"I thought the one silver lining is that my baby will have antibodies," she said.

Callaway and her husband were able to get vaccinated. After receiving two shots of the Moderna vaccine, they eased their restrictions and started spending time with vaccinated family members and friends, she said.

However, after a week-long vacation with their family in Galveston County, her son, Emmett started showing alarming symptoms.

"He started feeling warm and feverish," Callaway said. "I checked his temperature, and it was 102.7."

She took her baby boy to the pediatrician and explained his symptoms, which included cough and some congestion.

"I explained that some of my family members were also feeling cold-like symptoms," she said.

Emmett was tested for COVID-19 and the results came out positive. So did five of his fully vaccinated family members.

As of Wednesday, Emmet marked the eleventh day of his rough battle with the deadly virus.

"It’s scary stuff. When you’re having to take turns holding your baby upright so that he can breathe to sleep, and you feel the crackling in his lungs. It’s just scary," Callaway said.

The mother said she’s concerned about the long-term impacts the virus may have on her baby boy.

"The scariest thing for me from the get-go, thinking about COVID, has been the long-term impacts. The things that we don’t know," she said.

Callaway said her grandparents had also contracted the virus and that they had a rough time battling it. She added they have now recovered and are feeling better.

"We think that the vaccine is saving their lives," she said.

Callaway said she wants the vaccine to become available to children as young as Emmett.

"The Delta variant is changing the COVID game. It’s changing all the roles and all the things that we thought we understood about it," Callaway said.