Pregnant women and parents of young kids said they’d prefer getting the maternal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination during pregnancy as the primary way to protect their child against the virus, according to the results of a national survey published late last week in JAMA Network Open.
Among moms-to-be who were eligible for the maternal vaccine, 55.5% said they preferred it, while 6.2% said their first choice was the monoclonal antibody injection, or antibody shot, for infants. The latter is not a vaccine, but does provide babies with immediate, short-term protection against RSV. The US Food and Drug Administration has approved nirsevimab (Beyfortus) and clesrovimab (Enflonsia) as antibody shots for young children and Pfizer’s Abrysvo vaccine of use during pregnancy.
Among parents of young kids, 48.3% said they’d want the maternal RSV vaccine, and 9.4% would pick the antibody shot.
Studies have found that both the maternal vaccine and antibody shot are highly effective at protecting against RSV.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that RSV caused from 58,000 to 80,000 hospitalizations annually among children younger than 5 years before these immunizations were first introduced in the United States in2023, A 2021 analysis found that from 100 to 500 kids in this age-group died every year from an RSV infection.
If enough parents choose either type of immunization, it could dramatically reduce the number of RSV hospitalizations among young children.
Some moms-to-be open to docs’ advice
Because the decision on whether to get the maternal RSV vaccine and the decision on the antibody shot typically happens in different clinical settings—obstetric practices and pediatric clinics—knowing patient preference can help tailor communication strategies, said co-author Robert Bednarczyk, PhD, an infectious disease epidemiologist focusing on vaccine hesitancy and pediatrics at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.
“In our ever-evolving information environment, it is important to use communication methods that not only reach people but provide information in the most accessible and useful way,” Bednarczyk told CIDRAP News.
Of the 44.5% of pregnant women who said they wouldn’t get the maternal vaccine, or were unsure whether to get it, the main reason cited was not having enough information to decide. Other concerns include whether the vaccine was safe for their child or themselves. However, 35.8% of the pregnant women in this group said that they definitely or probably would change their minds if a clinician strongly recommended it.
When asked if they would get their baby the RSV antibody shot after giving birth, 55.7% of the pregnant women surveyed said they would if their child was eligible.
For those who said they wouldn’t, or weren’t sure about the antibody shot, the top reasons were a lack of information and concerns about the short- and long-term safety risks. However, 27.4% said they’d change their minds if a healthcare practitioner strongly recommended the RSV antibody shot for their child.
Some cite lack of info about antibody shot, safety concerns
Among parents of young kids, 59.8% said they’d get their child an RSV shot if they were eligible. Among those who answered this, 10.0% reported that they already had.
Reasons parents gave to not immunize their infant for RSV include concerns about the short- and long-term risks and not knowing enough about the antibody injection. However, similar to pregnant women, 27.0% of parents in this group said they’d change their minds if a clinician strongly recommended it.
The authors said the findings suggest the need for additional strategies to improve parents’ knowledge and awareness around RSV prevention, as well as more opportunities for patient-clinician communication.
This might include clinicians initiating more conversations about the maternal vaccine throughout pregnancy, said Bednarczyk, not just closer to the time that RSV immunization is offered.
