As this couple cycles through their grief, a vaccine to save other babies is tested

The pregnancy, the birth and the early days of parenthood were the fulfilment of their dreams.

“She was pretty lively,” said Alexandre Genest, remembering his daughter, Lupine, as an infant. “She had long hair already.”

“And big, sparkly eyes,” added his wife, Carly Wedge, Lupine’s mom.

But after just three weeks with their “perfectly healthy” baby, the new parents were plunged into their worst nightmare. At their home on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, Lupine suddenly turned ill, and her parents took her to the nearby regional hospital. Doctors ordered that she be sent to Halifax’s children’s hospital, where she was taken into intensive care.

Five days later, she was gone. 

A picture of Lupine Genest follows her dad’s bicycle as he travels around Nova Scotia’s highways and trails. (Paul Poirier/CBC)

Lupine was infected by Group B Streptococcus, or GBS, which led to sepsis and meningitis. GBS is a common bacterium that many adults carry without symptoms, but it causes life-threatening illness in babies. 

Pregnant women are often screened for GBS, and if they test positive, they’re given a preventative round of antibiotics during labour. The antibiotics can protect newborns during the first week of life, but not beyond. For cases that begin later in infancy, such as Lupine’s, there is no means of prevention — yet.

Now, as Lupine would be turning six months old, Wedge and Genest are touring around Nova Scotia on their bicycles — working through their grief, raising money for the hospital that tried to save her, and spreading the word about a vaccine that’s in development.

“It’s a rare thing, what happened to Lupine, but I think when it happens to you, it doesn’t really matter that it’s rare and you just want something to change,” said Wedge.

“A cure,” added Genest.

A vaccine on the horizon

What makes GBS so dangerous is that it escalates very quickly, said Dr. Joanne Langley, pediatric infectious disease specialist at the IWK Health Centre — the children’s hospital where Lupine was treated. 

“By the time you get the baby to care and start care, the baby has often become very unwell. And so even our best treatment will not catch up, in some cases.

“Preventing this disease is the best strategy,” she said.

Dr. Joanne Langley is an infectious disease specialist at the IWK Health Centre and investigator at the Canadian Center for Vaccinology. (Galen McRae/CBC)

Langley is an investigator at the Canadian Center for Vaccinology, and she’s working on a Phase 3 clinical trial for a maternal GBS vaccine.

Researchers have been trying to develop a vaccine against GBS since the 1970s, but Langley said no attempt has advanced as far as the current one, by Pfizer. Depending on how the current trial progresses, and on regulatory approvals, she said the vaccine could be widely available in the next few years.

“This will be just an overwhelming advance in the care of women and babies,” said Langley.

The World Health Organization says GBS causes about 150,000 stillbirths and infant deaths globally, each year, and vaccines could prevent more than 50 per cent of infant GBS cases. GBS can also lead to preterm birth, and a vaccine may lower that risk, too, according to the WHO.

Wedge and Genest say their baby girl, Lupine, was perfectly healthy for the first three weeks of her life. Then she suddenly turned severely ill. (Martha Wedge/Submitted)

In addition to preventing illness and death, Langley said the vaccine could also reduce the use of antibiotics in pregnant women who screen positive.

“That’s a good thing, because the normal bacteria that mom has on her skin and her vagina are all healthy and part of the newborn’s eventual microbiome,” she said.

Pfizer is testing the vaccine at more than 200 locations across the globe, including four in Canada. 

Wedge said it feels like serendipity that the clinical trial started in Nova Scotia shortly after Lupine’s death.

“The more I learn about GBS, the more passionate I feel about making sure something is done to hopefully prevent other families from going through what we went through,” she said.

Alexandre Genest and Carly Wedge stand by their bicycles at Summerville Beach Provincial Park, N.S., in early October 2026. (Jake Foley/Submitted)

As she and Genest cycle along Nova Scotia’s rural roads and trails, they’re pulling a small trailer displaying Lupine’s picture, and sharing their journey on social media. 

They said it’s been healing, talking to people about their daughter. At the same time, they’re trying to get people interested in the vaccine; they want to see the clinical trial get all the participants it needs. Locally, investigators are aiming to enroll 30 people.

“We’re trying to get the word out to as many people who might be interested as possible, to help them push the science forward,” said Wedge.

Langley said because of the newness of the vaccine, the risks are unknown. The current study is specifically meant to test its safety.

Langley said investigators have not seen any serious events associated with the shot, so far. She said another trial may be needed to test the vaccine’s efficacy in preventing disease.

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