{"id":538545,"date":"2026-04-18T23:40:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T23:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/538545\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T23:40:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T23:40:17","slug":"rsv-maternal-vaccine-cuts-baby-hospital-admissions-by-up-to-85","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/538545\/","title":{"rendered":"RSV maternal vaccine cuts baby hospital admissions by up to 85%"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A new UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) study \u202f<a rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/khub.net\/documents\/d\/phe-national\/escmid_abstract_final-nb\" target=\"_blank\">Maternal RSV vaccination and reduced risk of hospitalisation for babies in England 2024\/25<\/a>, clearly shows\u202fthe maternal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination programme is providing\u00a0over 80%\u202fprotection\u00a0for\u00a0newborn\u00a0infants,\u202fincluding those born\u202fprematurely. The study found vaccination at least 2 weeks before the birth gave\u00a081.3% protection. A\u00a0narrow range of\u00a0statistical uncertainty,\u00a078.9%\u00a0to 83.4%,\u00a0means there is high confidence in the protective effect of the vaccine.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The study, which analysed data\u202ffrom the first year\u202fof vaccine roll out (24\/25),\u202fis believed to be the largest study in the world evaluating\u202fthe effect of\u202fmaternal RSV vaccination\u202fin\u202fpreventing infants\u202fbeing\u202fhospitalised\u202ffor RSV\u202fchest\u202finfection. RSV causes\u202f\u202f<a rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/conditions\/bronchiolitis\/\" target=\"_blank\">bronchiolitis<\/a>\u202f(infection and inflammation of the small airways of the lung)\u202fand is a major cause of hospital admission\u202fin infants.\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The maternal vaccination programme is offered to women from 28 weeks of pregnancy to protect newborns.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The study followed\u202fnearly 300,000\u202fbabies born between September 2024 and March\u00a02025,\u202frepresenting\u202faround 90% of all births in England during this period. Using routinely collected electronic health records, UKHSA researchers assessed the vaccine\u2019s effectiveness in preventing hospital admissions.\u202fMore\u202fthan 4,500 hospitalisations occurred in this cohort, the vast majority in infants whose mothers had not been vaccinated.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Getting the vaccine\u00a0on time was best\u00a0(in week 28 or\u00a0soon after that),\u00a0as\u00a0babies born at least 4 weeks after their mother was vaccinated had\u202fnearly 85%\u202fprotection.\u202fBut importantly, even\u00a0vaccination later\u00a0in pregnancy still gives\u202fsome\u202fprotection, with\u202fvaccination as close as\u00a010 to\u00a013\u202fdays before birth reducing\u202fhospital admissions by 50%.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The study, which will be\u202fpresented\u00a0on\u00a018\u00a0April\u00a0at\u202fthe\u202f<a rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.escmid.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases<\/a>\u202f(ESCMID) global conference,\u202falso found that premature babies, who are particularly vulnerable to RSV, can be well protected, provided there is at least 2 weeks between vaccination and birth.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Matt Wilson,\u202fEpidemiologist at UKHSA, presenter and lead author, said:\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Our evaluation of the first season of the\u202fprogramme\u202fin England gives important confirmation that maternal RSV vaccination is highly protective for newborn infants, over 80%,\u202fand\u202fthat\u202feffectiveness reached nearly 85% when vaccination occurred at least 4 weeks before birth.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">These findings are\u202falso\u202fparticularly important for preterm infants, who are among the most vulnerable to severe RSV infection.\u202f\u202fWith sufficient time between vaccination and birth, we saw good levels of protection in these babies. Giving the vaccination early in the third trimester, as recommended by the World Health Organization, could protect most preterm infants,\u202fso\u202fit\u2019s\u202fimportant that midwives and other healthcare workers offer vaccination on time with the schedule \u2013 and that pregnant women promptly take it up.<\/p>\n<p>Maternal RSV vaccine uptake in England continues to climb, reaching 55% during the study period and the latest data showing uptake rising to 64.1% for women who gave birth in November 2025<\/p>\n<p>Dr\u202fConall Watson,\u202fConsultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA, one of the senior\u00a0authors and national\u202f programme lead for RSV, said:\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>RSV can cause life-threatening\u202fchest infections\u202ffor babies.\u202fHalf of newborns will have caught RSV before they are a year old. As an expectant\u202fparent you have no idea if they are going to\u00a0be\u00a0severely ill\u202for not.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Our\u202fanalysis of the\u00a0RSV\u00a0vaccination programme in England is important confirmation of\u00a0the results from\u00a0the\u00a0clinical trial, but\u00a0this\u00a0study is 40 times bigger and\u202fclearly\u00a0shows\u00a0the\u00a0hugely beneficial\u00a0effect on\u00a0reducing\u00a0hospital admission.\u202fGetting\u202fvaccinated in\u00a0week 28\u00a0of pregnancy\u00a0or\u202fsoon after\u202fgives\u202fexcellent\u202fprotection to\u202fboth\u202fterm and preterm babies\u202fwhen they are\u202ftiny and\u202fmost vulnerable to severe RSV.\u202fThe\u202fRSV\u202fvaccine\u202fgives a brilliant\u202fboost\u202fto\u202fthe\u202fpregnant woman\u2019s immune\u202fsystem\u202fso it can\u202fpass\u202fantibodies through the placenta\u202fand\u202fprotect the baby from the day they are born.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) study \u202fMaternal RSV vaccination and reduced risk of hospitalisation for babies&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-538545","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}