New program will see pregnant mothers and babies protected from life-threatening virus

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TRANSCRIPT
The Federal Government is announcing a nationwide vaccine rollout to help protect pregnant women and babies against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
It comes as cases increase by 37 thousand across Australia in 2024 compared with last year, causing concern among health experts and parents like Louise Boyd.
Her seven-month-old Spencer was hospitalised for nine days this year with a severe lung infection after he contracted RSV.
“He was starting to have, like, breathing difficulties, so we took him to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, he became unresponsive, so we had to call an ambulance. The ambulance took him into hospital. He had one admission for four days, then after he got discharged, he was home for not quite a day and then started to deteriorate again. Had another ambulance trip and was taken in put on high flow oxygen nasogastric tube and IV fluids and spent another five days in there so it was not a fun time.”
There was no free RSV vaccine available for Spencer – but that will soon change for other children in the same position.
The government plans to invest more than $174 million over four years to help combat the virus.
The free vaccine will be available to babies and pregnant women in their third trimester, starting next year.
It’s a common virus that usually involves mild symptoms, similar to the flu and COVID-19, and most children will catch RSV before they turn two.
But RSV is also the leading cause of hospitalisation for Australian infants.
Health Minister Mark Butler says the government has listened to calls for protection from parents and advocates.
“Every winter, around 12,000 Babies are hospitalized through RSV and as many as a quarter of them have to spend time in an intensive care unit. This winter has been a really hard one with more RSV cases recorded than last year.”
The number of RSV cases has surged from 96 thousand in 2022, to more than 165 thousand so far this year.
President of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Danielle McMullen, says the increase reflects a broader trend.
“We are just seeing a lot of respiratory illness in the community this year, high rates of whooping cough, lots of flu, still lots of COVID in the community, and probably a number of causes behind that, now that we’re back out and about in the community, traveling more, and probably a bit less immunity to some of those common respiratory illnesses after the COVID years, but always a strong reminder to be vaccinated against what we can be.”
Although some states already have their own RSV programs, vaccinating children against RSV can cost around $300.
Health Minister Mark Butler says the rollout will help cut costs for families – and could reduce RSV hospitalisations by up to 90 per cent.
Founding Director of the Immunisation Foundation Catherine Hughes welcomes the program as being world-leading.
“RSV is the number one reason why Australian kids under five are hospitalised each year, and today’s announcement will be a huge relief to many families around the country. This program is likely to prevent ten thousand hospitalisations every single year. That’s ten thousand families who won’t have to watch and wait as their babies struggle to breathe in hospital. We have been calling on all Australians to unite against RSV, and we thank the government for listening and acting.”
The RSV vaccine also impacts Australians over the age of 50, but they won’t be included in the free national vaccine program.
Health experts are urging at-risk groups to speak with their GP about the vaccine.
An important opportunity for parents like Louise Boyd.
“I’m very happy that it’s going to be nationally available and no other family should have to go through what we went through, because it was not fun.”