The number of Australian babies admitted to hospital with RSV has nearly halved compared to the same time last year.
Immunisation Foundation of Australia (IFA) founder Catherine Hughes said a nationwide rollout of free maternal and infant RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) immunisations had resulted in the number of babies under six months admitted to major Australian hospitals with severe RSV in April dropping to 84, compared to 165 in April last year.
Ms Hughes said this was the first hospitalisation data available since the introduction of the National RSV Mother and Infant Protection Program earlier this year.
She said the figures were a positive sign the program was working, but warned winter would be most telling.
“RSV continues to pose a serious risk to young children, and while we’re seeing positive signs, broader immunisation uptake remains critical.”
Ms Hughes said IFA estimated that as many as 90,000 babies across Australia, around a third of all babies expected to be born in 2025, may have already received RSV protection in the first months of the immunisation program.
She said Australia’s world-leading program offered parents the choice between free maternal RSV vaccination (administered between 28-36 weeks of pregnancy) or free infant RSV immunisation given to the baby at birth or ahead of, or during winter, depending on when they were born.
“The maternal RSV vaccine roll-out only commenced in late February, while newborn babies only started receiving the infant RSV immunisation from April.
“This means there may be thousands of infants needing to see an immunisation provider to ‘catch-up’ on RSV immunisation.”
Ms Hughes said the data showed the uptake of the infant RSV immunisation varied across Australia.
She said between February 3 and May 18, coverage ranged from 37.4 percent of infants aged under eight months in Queensland, to just 7.8 percent in New South Wales and 6.2 percent in Victoria.
“More than 60,000 cases of RSV have already been reported nationally, with more than half occurring in children aged under five years.
“Notifications are expected to rise throughout winter, as occurred in 2024 when the total number of RSV cases reported for the year exceeded 175,000.”
