TOPLINE

Most pregnant women received the maternal vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) between 2024 and 2025, and most newborns left the hospital with protection against the virus during this period.

METHODOLOGY

• Researchers conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study to assess the uptake of RSV vaccine among mothers and their newborns during hospitalization for birth.
• They reviewed the electronic health records of 1156 mother-infant pairs at a US hospital between November 2024 and February 2025.
• Maternal RSV vaccination was confirmed from prenatal clinic notes, electronic health records, and the state immunization registry.
• Researchers assessed whether infants whose mothers were unvaccinated received nirsevimab.

TAKEAWAY

• Almost three quarters of mothers received the vaccine during pregnancy, and 55% of eligible newborns received nirsevimab. By discharge, 88% of newborns left the hospital with protection against RSV from either maternal vaccination or nirsevimab.
• Asian mothers had the highest uptake of maternal vaccination (85%), and Black mothers the lowest (59%). Asian newborns received nirsevimab most often (83%), and White newborns least often (47%).
• Older mothers and those with longer pregnancies were slightly more likely to be vaccinated, but infants with older gestational ages were less likely to receive nirsevimab.
• Vaccination was more likely among mothers with private insurance and less likely among those with a religious affiliation.

IN PRACTICE

“[The] work is informative in identifying groups for targeted quality improvement efforts to improve outpatient prenatal RSV immunization uptake, specifically younger, publicly insured mothers of color,” the researchers wrote.

SOURCE

The study was led by Ann Cheung, MD, MBA, MS, of Mass General Brigham for Children in Boston. It was published online on July 1 in the Journal of Pediatrics.

LIMITATIONS

The hospital had more high‑risk pregnancies, potential biasing uptake of maternal vaccine. Lack of documentation was considered as no offer of the vaccine. Nirsevimab analysis assumed all mothers were unvaccinated, omitting those immunized less than two weeks before delivery.

DISCLOSURES

No funding was secured for the study. The authors disclosed no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.