{"id":245237,"date":"2025-12-22T02:25:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T02:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/245237\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T02:25:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T02:25:12","slug":"pilot-immunisation-programme-sees-drop-in-babies-in-hospital-with-rsv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/245237\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilot immunisation programme sees drop in babies in hospital with RSV"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The number of babies in hospital with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is expected to be even lower this year than last year as a \u201cvery effective\u201d <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/news\/arid-41463955.html\">pilot immunisation programme continues<\/a>, health watchdog Hiqa has said.<\/p>\n<p>The regulator is now calling on parents, healthcare workers, and anyone interested in children\u2019s health to take part in a public consultation around permanent funding for it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">RSV is a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/lifestyle\/parenting\/arid-41468131.html\">highly contagious respiratory disease <\/a>that infects the lungs and upper airways, and usually spreads in winter, with its typical season running from October to March.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The risk of severe infection is highest in young infants, particularly those born during the RSV season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Hiqa deputy chief executive and director of health technology assessment, Dr M\u00e1ir\u00edn Ryan, said the two-year pilot immunisation programme has been \u201cvery effective\u201d in protecting babies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu caption\">Over 7,000 diagnosed with RSV annually<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">More than 7,000 people can be diagnosed every winter here with RSV. Before the treatment was introduced in 2024, large numbers of babies ended up in hospital with this viral illness annually.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Irish RSV data show seven in every 10 cases are children aged under two. Babies aged less than six months face the highest risk of getting so sick they need hospital care.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cEvery year we had a predictable, substantial impact on paediatric hospitals where you have an influx of small babies who need hospitalisation,\u201d Dr Ryan said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The data for 2014 to 2023 shows winter typically saw up to 1,600 admissions of babies with RSV, she added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cIf we look at last year, when we had the first pilot programme, there were only 533 admissions,\u201d Dr Ryan said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cYou can see the substantial benefit immunisation had. We\u2019d expect there to be even more of a decrease this year because we\u2019ve got an expanded pilot programme.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The antibody treatment, Nirsevimab, is given as an injection. It is licenced to prevent RSV in babies during their first winter season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            It also protects children up to two years old who are vulnerable for health reasons.\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The average cost of an inpatient admission for babies ill with RSV aged under two months is about \u20ac13,000, and for babies aged three to six months is about \u20ac9,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">However it does require a \u201csubstantial\u201d investment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Hiqa suggested immunisation for all babies would cost the HSE an extra \u20ac50m to \u20ac60m during the first five years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Dr Ryan said: \u201cRSV immunisation is safe and would significantly reduce the RSV burden on families and on healthcare services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cHowever, these new RSV immunisation products are expensive. The HSE would have to negotiate considerable price reductions in order for any of the immunisation strategies reviewed to represent an efficient use of HSE resources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Hiqa\u2019s draft report can be found on its website, with the public consultation on it until January 20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number of babies in hospital with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is expected to be even lower this&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":[1201,18,135,475,474,19,17,5,1202],"class_list":{"0":"post-245237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-court-and-crime","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-care","12":"tag-healthcare","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-politics-and-analysis"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115760852016464086","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}