{"id":804791,"date":"2026-07-16T21:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/804791\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T21:57:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:57:14","slug":"rsv-vaccination-rates-halve-nsw-hospitalisations-as-influenza-peak-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/804791\/","title":{"rendered":"RSV vaccination rates halve NSW hospitalisations, as influenza peak looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

New South Wales health authorities have hailed a vaccination program that has nearly halved hospitalisations for a potentially deadly respiratory virus among newborn babies a “fantastic” success ahead of the winter peak.<\/p>\n

A study published in the latest Medical Journal of Australia<\/a> has shown the maternal and infant vaccination program for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in NSW has seen a major decline in notifications and hospitalisations for infants younger than six months old for one of the leading causes of infant deaths in Australia.<\/p>\n

The RSV vaccination program was introduced in 2024 with the targeted immunisation of infants at high risk of severe outcomes, before being expanded in 2025 to a whole-of-population program with vaccination during pregnancy.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kerryn Coleman says she is looking forward to immunisation rates growing for expectant mothers and their babies. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n

Executive director of health protection at NSW Health, Kerryn Coleman, said the immunisation rollout for RSV had been targeting pregnant mothers and newborn babies.<\/p>\n

“What that has shown is a fantastic reduction in illness and hospitalisations for our young babies,” she said.<\/p>\n

Dr Coleman said the program had delivered one of the biggest benefits seen from a vaccination program for young babies in recent years.<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/p>\n

The study shows a major decline in notifications and hospitalisations for infants younger than six months old. (Medical Journal of Australia)<\/p>\n

“RSV infection in young babies can cause serious illness, neo natal intensive care unit admissions, many weeks in hospital and even can result in death for our young babies.”<\/p>\n

Dr Coleman said she was looking forward to the immunisation rates growing for expectant mothers and their babies.<\/p>\n

“This program has achieved over 60 per cent coverage in our mums which is an amazing figure and has achieved a 40 per cent reduction across the board on the impact of RSV on our young babies,” Dr Coleman said.<\/p>\n

“We really encourage mums to talk to their maternity care providers about what vaccines they need to be having, and RSV is one of those.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dr Coleman says RSV vaccines should be encouraged. (ABC News: Michael Lloyd)<\/p>\n

Winter flu peak approaching<\/p>\n

NSW Health is also urging unvaccinated residents to get a flu shot, with the seasonal influenza peak still to come and hospitals already under pressure.<\/p>\n

Dr Coleman said it was not too late, especially for the elderly or vulnerable.<\/p>\n

“Every year we have a number of people who get really sick from flu who need to go to hospital and sometimes people can die from flu, it is a very serious disease,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We are particularly concerned about people who are more vulnerable to serious outcomes.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Michael Bonning says there is a “new surge” in Sydney. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Michael Bonning, from the NSW Australian Medical Association Council, said Western and south-western Sydney was a particular concern.<\/p>\n

“Almost 40 per cent of the most recent flu data cases for the week ending the 11th July show that they are in Western and south-western Sydney,” Dr Bonning said.<\/p>\n

“There is obviously the start of a new surge of cases going through Sydney.”<\/p>\n

He said the virus presented a risk to those communities.<\/p>\n

“Those increasing numbers should be a call to arms for people there to get their influenza jab because we know that can protect them.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New South Wales health authorities have hailed a vaccination program that has nearly halved hospitalisations for a potentially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,18994,12753,144,137,4082,120345,41792,673,2733,43842,81977,3850,3851,16962],"class_list":["post-804791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-baby","tag-child","tag-flu","tag-health","tag-hospital","tag-infant","tag-infection","tag-new-south-wales","tag-nsw","tag-nsw-health","tag-respiratory-syncytial-virus","tag-rsv","tag-vaccination","tag-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}