‘Game-changer’: Victorian babies to get free RSV immunisation

Victorian babies will be offered a free jab for a life-threatening respiratory virus from next year, months after the Allan government was accused of dragging its feet on a bolstered immunisation program.

Premier Jacinta Allan unveiled the state’s $18.7 million respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) plan on Wednesday. The scheme will target vulnerable infants up to eight months old and be rolled out by next winter.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas earlier this year.Credit: Penny Stephens

Royal Children’s Hospital paediatrician Margie Danchin said the drug that would be used for Victoria’s infant jabs – Nirsevimab – was safe, highly effective and easy to administer.

“As paediatricians, we are used to seeing wards filled with infants struggling to breathe due to RSV disease,” Danchin said.

“Availability of Nirsevimab will be a game-changer for Victorian infants.”

RSV can lead to respiratory infections in the lungs and airways – such as bronchiolitis and pneumonia – and generally affects children under the age of two. Most infections occur in the colder months and, in some cases, can be fatal.

There have been more than 28,700 cases of RSV detected in Victoria this year, and more than 156,900 nationally. Most of those presenting to emergency departments last year required hospital admission.

Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said the state’s free RSV immunisation would mostly be administered at hospitals next year as part of standard post-birth care – to save parents time and money – and would likely complement a Commonwealth-funded maternal jab.

It will be offered to babies and infants whose mothers were unable to be immunised or were immunised less than two weeks before delivery.

The infant immunisation is expected to provide protection for about five months. RSV infections peak from April to September.

A catch-up program will also be available for children up to two years old who are at risk of severe RSV and are entering their second virus season.

“We look forward to the federal government resolving other known eligibility barriers that continue to prevent monoclonal antibody treatments from being listed on the national immunisation program,” Thomas said.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said he was working with the states and territories to improve protection for all babies ahead of the 2025 RSV season.

“The government has been working closely with the relevant pharmaceutical company on this and appreciates the positive engagement we have had,” Butler said.

Australian Medical Association president Dr Jill Tomlinson welcomed Wednesday’s announcement and said it should go some way to taking the pressure off emergency departments.

“It’s a really important step,” she said, adding that she would have liked the Commonwealth to roll out maternal shots “yesterday”.

Queensland and Western Australia have had universal RSV immunisation programs for babies for months. Victoria previously rejected an approach from a French pharmaceutical company, leading to accusations that local babies were being left behind.

In May, shadow health minister Georgie Crozier said it was “inexcusable” that Victoria did not have a supply of RSV immunisations for all vulnerable infants.

At the time, Thomas said the relevant pharmaceutical company’s product had not been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration at the time it had made its approach. She also stressed that Victoria had secured a supply for high-risk children.

The ensuing debate spilled onto the floor of parliament in September, when an emotional premier revealed one of her children had been flown to the Royal Children’s Hospital with RSV as a baby.

“I do not want any parent to go through my experience ever,” Allan said at the time.

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