The research was made possible by a $3.4 million state grant.
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — As HealthPartners prepares for the 2024-2025 RSV season, its healthcare workers began administering the RSV vaccine to mothers this month, following CDC recommendations.
But hospitals say many pregnant patients have doubts about the vaccine and are avoiding it.
Dr. Christy Palmsten is a senior research scientist at HealthPartners Institute and co-director of the institute’s Pregnancy and Child Health Research Center.
The FDA approved the RSV vaccine for pregnant women 32 to 36 weeks pregnant in August, but Palmsten said internal research has revealed that many pregnant women are hesitant to get the one-dose shot, and some patients said they needed to get more information directly from their health care providers before deciding whether to get the shot.
“Whenever a new product comes to market, people tend to have questions,” Palmsten says. “The available evidence is reassuring regarding safety and effectiveness, but there is little data on safety.”
For example, she says, the original clinical trials didn’t include data on breastfeeding or the long-term health effects on infants and children, but Health Partners now has new funding to collect that information and more.
“The grant, awarded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, will provide $3.4 million to study the association of prenatal respiratory syncytial virus vaccine with birth outcomes, breastfeeding-related outcomes, and child health outcomes through age 3,” Palmsten explained.
Palmsten said he couldn’t comment on whether the 2024-2025 vaccine will be the same one the FDA approved last year, but said the new research should help answer other questions for patients.
During the five-year study, researchers will collect data from electronic health records at HealthPartners and several other health systems across the country.
“This is data that is routinely collected at well-baby visits, well-child visits and postnatal visits,” Palmsten said, “and this evidence can help patients decide whether or not to get tested.”
The grant comes as RSV infection remains the leading cause of hospitalization for infants in the United States.
So far, researchers have said that the RSV vaccine produces antibodies that pregnant women can pass to their fetuses, protecting them from severe infection, and in many cases, this protection lasts for up to six months after the baby is born.
According to a HealthPartners press release, “vaccination during pregnancy has been shown to be 69% effective against severe RSV infection in infants up to 6 months of age.”
