WA newborns receive RSV immunsation

In an Australian first, newborns are now being immunised against RSV in Western Australian birthing hospitals.

RSV is a highly infectious respiratory virus that infects up to two-thirds of all babies in their first year of life and hospitalises more than 1,000 infants in WA each year.

A single dose of ‘nirsevimab’ protects babies for at least five months, which is the length of an average RSV season (typically from May to September in WA).

Parents are urged to get their babies, born between 1 May to 30 September 2024, immunised against RSV this winter before they leave hospital.