The first RSV vaccine can and will save lives
Your infant suddenly has a fever, sore throat and congestion. It’s probably just a cold. Then, your infant struggles to breathe. You rush her to the ER, where she is admitted for an RSV infection.
Admitting your child to a hospital is one of the most harrowing moments for any parent, but especially your tiny baby. Now, this is unfolding at an alarming rate across Texas. Emergency rooms are filling up, and this is before the full start of the flu season.
For most people, RSV presents as nothing more than a mild winter cold that clears up on its own. But for everyone else, especially infants and the elderly, RSV is serious business.
According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC), the virus causes 100 to 300 deaths in children five and under. And, it leads to up to 80,000 infant hospitalizations. Alarmingly, it’s the number one cause of hospitalizations in infants in the U.S.
It’s not just infants who are at risk: For adults 65 and older, RSV causes 6,000 to 10,000 deaths and leads to 60,000 to 160,000 hospitalizations annually.
There is hope. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first RSV vaccine. This is incredibly empowering news that can and will save lives – but only if people choose to vaccinate themselves.
Who can take the simple step of getting a vaccine? Adults who are 60 and older are eligible for the vaccine. So are pregnant women in their third trimester. For pregnant women, the vaccine provides protection to their infant from the moment they’re born for the first six months of their life.
It’s no secret that vaccination rates in the U.S. have been declining for some time. Unfortunately for the health of us all, that decline has only accelerated in recent years. Visit any dark corner on social media, and conspiracy theories about immunizations abound.
But rather than trade in misinformation, it’s time to consider the facts. And those facts need to come from our most trusted sources, the physicians and obstetricians who serve everyday people in the communities where they work and live. Doctors, who see the terrible outcomes of RSV in patients young and old, can and should encourage vaccines in those who are eligible to receive them.
Between the FDA-approved vaccine and an FDA-approved antibody shot that helps protect infants and other high-risk young children, estimates suggest up to a 70 percent reduction in severe respiratory infections. That means fewer emergency room visits and a reduction in serious disease and death.
For the past 100 years or more, vaccines have been saving lives. In this case, a vaccine can also save your unborn child’s life, keeping them out of the hospital and safe from a potentially deadly RSV infection. If you are 60 years or older, or pregnant in your third trimester, talk to your physician about the RSV vaccine.
Burke is executive director of The Immunization Partnership.