NEED HELP!!! 🤒😷

My 14 month old has a severe cold. Like he can not lay down at all or he wakes up screaming because he can't breathe. So we used Vicks baby rub on the bottoms of his feet, and put on some footies well the air messed up in the house and now it's extremely hot so he's sweating. Can we take off his pjs without him getting sicker just leave them on him. I know they say don't put it on their chest because it will cause pneumonia so it's just on the bottoms of his feet.