Building community trust in healthcare to help protect babies from RSV

We’re building community trust in vaccines and maternal healthcare through a new study that will help protect our youngest Victorians.

Thanks to a Victorian Government investment of $685,000, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) is looking into Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infections during pregnancy. The study will also look at pregnant women’s understanding of the RSV vaccine and how it will keep their infants healthy.

RSV is a common, highly contagious virus that infects up to 90% of children before age 2. It is the most common cause of hospitalisation in babies – 8 times higher than the number of influenza hospitalisations. RSV can often progress to pneumonia or bronchiolitis in very young children.

However, studies show that vaccination during pregnancy reduces the risk of severe RSV illness in babies by around 70%. An RSV vaccination during pregnancy is safe for both the mother and baby. Doctors recommend a single dose during weeks 32 to 36 of pregnancy.

The MCRI study will explore the barriers stopping pregnant women from taking the RSV vaccine. It aims to boost trust in healthcare and increase uptake – which will improve the health of infants across the state.

This new study will add to MCRI’s current study into health outcomes for mothers and their babies associated with COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy.

Under the Federal Government’s National Immunisation Program, the maternal RSV vaccine is now available for free to all pregnant women in Australia. The Victorian Government is also delivering a free catch-up program to protect 40,000 babies born this RSV season. Infants aged 2 years and under are eligible if their mother wasn’t vaccinated during pregnancy.