Free RSV vaccines for mothers and babies as cases spike by 37,000

All pregnant women and their babies will be able to access free protection from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) before next winter after a spike of 37,000 extra cases in Australia this year.

Expectant mothers between 28 and 36 weeks’ gestation will be eligible for a free RSV vaccine from February, giving protection to their children, while babies whose mothers haven’t been immunised will also gain free access to the monoclonal antibody Beyfortus by winter.

Jacky and Penny Lim with daughter Arielle and baby Avery, who still has a cough six months after catching RSV.Credit:

About 12,000 babies are admitted to hospital each year with RSV. Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the new scheme, which would become the most comprehensive RSV protection program in the world, should prevent 10,000 of them being admitted.

The common respiratory virus affects the nose, throat and lungs, and can cause severe respiratory tract infections in babies and children, leading to bronchiolitis, pneumonia and asthma. It is the leading cause of infant hospitalisation in Australia.

Cases surged nationwide this year: there were 165,130 cases recorded in 2024, up from 128,115 in 2023 and 95,959 in 2022, Health Department data showed.

Almost half of this year’s cases – 80,870 – were recorded in children aged between zero and four years, who had the highest rate of infection of the population. They were followed by children aged five to nine.

Rachael Morrison, a mother of three from Springwood, outside Sydney, had all her children admitted to hospital with RSV in March. Her three-month-old, Summer, was hospitalised for a week.

Morrison said it was a traumatic time that had left the family still reeling. “My husband needed significant time off work, which resulted in a loss of income for us,” she said. “Five months later, all three kids are still coughing, and my eldest is now showing signs of asthma.”

Melbourne mother Penny Lim’s daughter Avery was hospitalised at the age of two weeks in May.

“It was really stressful being in hospital with a sick baby while recovering from a C-section, and with an older child to look after too,” Lim said. “The hospital was full of RSV babies, and we had to wait eight hours for a bed.”

Lim said that, six months later, Avery is still catching up on lost growth and carried an ongoing cough. She said vaccination would have saved her family significant stress.

Some states had their own RSV programs this year – in NSW, Beyfortus was available for vulnerable babies – but Butler said the new program would cater to all mothers and babies in Australia.

Previously, immunisation has cost parents more than $300. A working group of state, territory and federal leaders will aim for a consistent approach to Beyfortus. At present, a single dose is recommended for babies under eight months ahead of their first RSV season, with another dose recommended for children under two years old who are at risk of severe disease before their second season.

Butler said the government’s $174.5 million investment should slash hospitalisation rates by 90 per cent.

Associate Professor Nusrat Homaira, a respiratory researcher from the University of NSW and Sydney Children’s Hospital, said there had been no credible data on the magnitude of RSV when she began working in the field two decades ago, nor were there preventive options at the time for infants.

“Fortunately, the whole landscape of RSV disease has changed,” she said. “We now know that RSV remains the leading cause of respiratory hospitalisation in children in the first two years of life and, more importantly, we have two very effective preventive options to control severe RSV disease in infants.”

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