(Update: Adds video and comments from staff)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Two new treatments aim to reduce respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in infants. In most cases, RSV causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but it can be much more severe in infants and older adults.
St. Charles wants patients to know there is a new Pfizer vaccine that can be given to pregnant women.
“This allows the mother’s body to make antibodies that will cross the placenta and protect the baby after birth,” Dr. Sarah Hellman, an obstetrician-gynecologist at St. Charles Women’s Health Center, said Wednesday.
Dr. Hellman said the vaccine poses no risk to pregnancy.
“When mothers are vaccinated by age 3 months, there is an 81% reduction in severe RSV disease in their infants, and there is a 69% reduction in severe RSV disease in the infants up to age 6 months,” Hellman said.
The RSV season starts this month and runs through March. The best time to get the RSV vaccine is from September through January.
The CDC recommends one dose of the vaccine for pregnant women between 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy.
There are other ways to protect infants from RSV.
“If the mother couldn’t get the vaccine or didn’t get it or doesn’t want to get it, we want to protect the baby by giving them the antibodies directly,” pediatrician Dr. Suzanne Mendez said.
“This is what’s called passive immunity,” Mendez said. “It’s not the vaccine itself, it’s the actual antibodies, and they wear off within five to six months.”
The number of RSV cases fluctuates from year to year. St. Charles saw a decrease from November 2023 to March 2024.
“RSV is something that we’ve been battling every winter when babies get really sick, and because it’s a virus, we didn’t know if there was ever going to be a vaccine or a vaccination, so this is really a life-changing event for these children,” Mendez said.
St. Charles Women’s Health Center is now offering the RSV vaccine for pregnant patients.
St. Charles issued the following news release:
Most people infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) experience mild, cold-like symptoms, but in infants and older adults, this common respiratory virus can become much more severe.
“It can cause very serious illness, especially in babies under 3 months old. It’s a powerful virus, and the smaller the baby, the smaller their airways are. Even if they don’t have a lot of mucus or infection, it can cause significant problems,” said Dr. Suzanne Mendez, a pediatrician at St. Charles Health System who treats babies hospitalized with RSV infection every year.
Last winter, Dr. Mendez and his colleagues at St. Charles Bend Pediatrics noticed something unusual: They weren’t treating many infants with RSV infection. St. Charles Pediatrician Dr. Rebecca Jennings evaluated the data and confirmed that this wasn’t just a feeling: From November 2023 to March 2024, very few infants were hospitalized with RSV infection. In fact, excluding the winter of 2020 at the peak of the pandemic, this was the fewest RSV seasons since tracking began in 2018.
Although the number of RSV cases fluctuates from year to year, Dr. Mendes and his colleagues believe there is another factor that may have contributed to the decline in cases: newly available vaccines and antibodies against RSV that protect infants.
Kelsey McGee will speak with Mendez and St. Charles obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Sarah Hellman on Wednesday about the success of the RSV vaccine and antibodies in infants. She will also ask questions about what to expect this fall and winter. Her report will air on News Channel 21 at 5 p.m.
In 2023, two new methods of protecting infants from RSV became available: RSV vaccine administered to pregnant patients to immunize their newborns, and monoclonal antibodies that can be administered directly to newborns to protect them from RSV infection. Both have been shown to be highly effective in preventing RSV in infants.
“We believe these vaccines are effective and help protect vulnerable infants,” Dr. Mendes said, “and in the past year, not a single infant in our pediatric ward with RSV was born to a vaccinated mother, so they appear to be very effective at preventing hospitalization.”
Hellman, the obstetrician-gynecologist at St. Charles Women’s Health Center, said about half of the pregnant patients she saw last year chose to get the RSV vaccine, and she expects that percentage to increase this year as more awareness of the vaccine and how to administer it becomes available.
The CDC recommends that pregnant women between the 32nd and 36th weeks of pregnancy receive one dose of the RSV vaccine to prevent RSV infection.
“This vaccine really does protect babies,” Dr. Hellman said, noting that the RSV vaccine reduces the risk of severe RSV disease in infants by 81 percent during the first 90 days of life.
RSV vaccination is one of several vaccinations recommended for pregnant patients to boost immunity in newborns, including against TDAP, COVID and influenza.
“These vaccines are safe and pose a reduced risk to infants,” Dr. Hellman said.
St. Charles Women’s Health Center now offers the RSV vaccine for pregnant patients. For more information, please call 541-526-6635.