Far fewer babies went to the hospital struggling to breathe from RSV, a severe respiratory infection, after the debut of a new vaccine and treatment this season, according to an analysis published today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
RSV, or respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) virus, is the leading cause of hospitalization for infants in the US. An estimated 58,000–80,000 children younger than 5 years old are hospitalized each year. Newborns—babies between 0 and 2 months—are the most at risk of being hospitalized with RSV. The virus circulates seasonally, typically rising in the fall and peaking in the winter, like many other respiratory infections.
But the 2024–2025 season was different—there were two new ways to protect against the infection. One is a maternal vaccine, Pfizer’s Abrysvo, which is given to pregnant people when their third trimester aligns with RSV season (generally September through January). Maternal antibodies generated from the vaccination pass to the fetus in the uterus and can protect a newborn in the first few months of life. The other new protection against RSV is a long-acting monoclonal antibody treatment, nirsevimab, which is given to babies under 8 months old as they enter or are born into their first RSV season and may not be protected by maternal antibodies.
among newborns (0–2 months), RSV hospitalizations fell 52 percent
there was a 71 percent decline in hospitalizations in NVSN
0 to 7 months old—RSV-NET showed a 43 percent drop in hospitalizations
NVSN data, there was a 56 percent drop.
Shit like that is fucking huge, and makes me get some happy misty eyes thinking of the people whose lives have just been made better because of this.
30 to 40 thousand kids kept out of the hospital. Some heart wrenching portion of that as lives saved.
Every year. And that’s in the US alone!I hope the researchers who worked on this feel appropriately proud.
What I would have given to have had that shot when I was an infant. I got RSV before I was 1, and developed lifelong complications from it. I’m really glad it’s out there for people now. RSV is terrible on newborns and old folks. :(
The CDC said this vaccine is good? Weird… I thought they hate vaccines now?
Very timely as my daughter is pregnant right now. I appreciate you sharing.
Suggest she talk to her OB sooner rather than later. The window for the maternal vaccination is reasonably narrow, and some places where you might routinely get a vaccine aren’t accustomed to it yet and might take longer than expected to work through it. (If they give the vaccine too early the antibodies don’t transfer as helpfully, and too late and they don’t have enough time to develop and transfer)
My wife had a hell of a time getting it from the usual place we get flu and COVID shots because it was a more nuanced criteria and they, reasonably, didn’t want to give a treatment outside of approved guidelines. Eventually the OB said the back and forth was silly and had someone go get a dose from the hospital pharmacy and just gave it during the office visit.
It’s literally a lifesaver. We had twins that were born premature, which is a major risk factor. At six months we all got it, and one was miserable but fine, and the other required a relatively non-invasive hospital stay for extra monitoring for a few days.
Given the giant risk factors we had, without the vaccines it would have been a much more scary time, and it was already basically textbook Not-a-great-time.My wife was due in August 2024 and our local pharmacy(not one of the giant chain pharmacy stores) luckily had it and gave it to her no problem in July 2024. She also works for the surveillance side of our states department of health, specifically on COVID, flu, and RSV, so she understood very clearly how devastating the outcomes can be for unvaccinated children and was going to get it or have it given to our kid come hell or high water.
All of us adults are vaccinated for RSV, TDAP, flu, and Covid, but the idea of a maternal vaccine is incredible. My son got RSV as an infant and he has had related health issues his whole life. He was extremely sick off and on for most of his childhood like it just trashed his lung health. He had asthma, too.
Her due date is late June, so well before that August window starts, but I’d love for them to give it anyway based on how susceptible to long term health effects her brother was.
i think most adults are exposed to RSV, the vaccine is rpetty new and its not offered to adults commonly.
You’re partially right and I was misremembering. There is an RSV vaccine but it’s typically only given to older adults and people who have had severe RSV, which my dad recently did and we were discussing that he would need the vaccine.
We just recently got every vaccine under the sun and my brain jumbled those things around. I got pneumonia, flu, Covid, TDAP, and Hep B. I always forget that last one because most of my life that was only for IV drug users and it’s weird to me that it’s for everyone now. So I counted and thought RSV. Thanks for setting that straight.
Pretty much everyone has had it, but it does mutate and we can be reinfected as adults. It’s not offered to your typical healthy adult, but it’d be nice if they would.
Do it.
My kid has the vaccine… he’s in daycare. Like 6 times this winter kids caught RSV.
Vaccines: official sponsors of birthdays for … well several decades at least
Damn, that’s amazing.
Hopefully they make this available to everyone sooner than later, it’d be nice to just get a covid/rsv/flu shot as a combined shot each fall.
As someone who had a two month old in the PICU for a few days with RSV, this is great to hear. I wish it’d come a few years sooner for us. The little guy is fine now but it was terrifying at the time.
