First country in the world
By Richard Hogenkamp·1 hour ago·Edit: 1 minute ago
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The Netherlands will start vaccinating against the RS virus in the autumn of 2025, Spain has been doing so for more than a year. They were the first country in the world to include the shot in the vaccination program. Pediatricians call the results ‘spectacular’ and they are not just talking about the 90% decrease in the number of hospital admissions.
The RS vaccination for newborns has been part of the Spanish vaccination program since October 1, 2023. There are regions where injections were already done before that date, from the moment vaccines could be delivered. Spain started vaccinating babies before the European approval procedure was fully completed.
Immediate effect
Pediatricians saw an immediate effect. Last winter, 65% fewer babies visited a doctor than in the previous winter. The number of hospital admissions of children under one year old fell by 90%.
In the Netherlands, 2000 babies are now admitted to hospital every year with a serious RS infection. If the same effect is achieved here as in Spain, that will be 200 in the future, much less than was hoped for when the vaccine came on the market. Experts assumed that 500 hospital admissions would still be necessary in the future.
They also did not expect such a strong effect in Spain. President Jaime Peréz of the Spanish Association of Vaccinologists calls the RS vaccine “the biggest medical milestone of the year 2023″ with beneficial consequences for babies, parents and medical staff. “The vaccine led to a much quieter autumn-winter period in hospitals and health centers, even in places you would not immediately think of. For example, far fewer PCR tests were conducted,” says Pérez.
Eliminate waiting lists
Doctors and nurses who worked on children with an RS infection during previous winters have been doing something different since last winter. At the Sant Joan de Déu Children’s Hospital in Barcelona, 15% more operations are now being performed than in previous years, simply because the workload in the hospital has decreased since vaccinations have been introduced. They are now eliminating their waiting lists.
Carmen Muñoz-Almagro, head of the research department at the Sant Joan de Déu Children’s Hospital, adds another to the list of positive effects. “We think that vaccination against RS also gives children more protection in a certain way against other serious bacterial infections. We now see these occurring less often, but we still need to study further how this works.”
High vaccination rate
Whether the results in the Netherlands will be exactly as strong as in Spain depends on the number of parents who have their babies vaccinated. The vaccination rate is high in Spain. In the first year, 95% of babies were vaccinated against RS. Spain is already taking the next step. A plan is being worked on to also vaccinate people over 60. This means fewer sick elderly people and also fewer grandparents who can pass on the RS virus to their grandchild.
