SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
There are powerful new ways to protect newborn babies against a dangerous respiratory virus known as RSV, yet many infants are still being left vulnerable. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein explains why.
ROB STEIN, BYLINE: For decades, doctors and parents were helpless against RSV. The respiratory syncytial virus sent tens of thousands of newborns to the hospital each year, where they often fought for their lives in intensive care.
JESSE HACKELL: Those kids can go from mildly ill to deathly ill in a matter of hours, and I've seen that happen.
STEIN: Dr. Jesse Hackell is with the American Academy of Pediatrics.
HACKELL: These can be very, very sick infants, and it is just something I just never want to see. There's no reason to see it.
STEIN: Because three years ago, doctors finally got ways to protect babies against RSV, a vaccine for pregnant women so they can pass protective antibodies to their babies in the womb and shots of laboratory-made antibodies that shield newborns whose mothers didn't get vaccinated.
HACKELL: It's been a game-changer. We have seen a tremendous decrease in the amount of both RSV illness, and there's been a huge reduction, over 60%, I believe, in the rate of hospitalization for RSV disease. And that's just massive.
STEIN: But Hackell and others say far too many babies are still catching RSV.
HACKELL: Only about 40% of eligible pregnant people received the vaccine during pregnancy. So that means that 60% of babies are being born without any protection. Of those 60% of babies, 40% of eligible babies were not getting protected, and that's pretty big.
STEIN: RSV is still among the most common reasons babies end up in the hospital. Now, there are several reasons for this, but the big one is that many hospitals don't routinely offer the antibody shots for RSV to newborns before they get discharged. Dr. Michelle Fiscus is a pediatrician who serves as the chief medical officer for the Association of Immunization Managers.
MICHELLE FISCUS: The best way to protect them is to immunize them within the first seven days of life, preferably before they ever leave the hospital after being born, because as soon as they leave, they are exposed to that virus during respiratory season.
STEIN: But most insurance companies aren't reimbursing hospitals for giving the shots, which cost about $500 each. That's because hospitals typically negotiate bundled insurance payments for everything they do to deliver and care for babies, and not all babies need the shots because their moms got vaccinated or the babies aren't born during RSV season. Parents can get their babies immunized for free from a doctor's office, but Fiscus says many don't get the shot there in time.
FISCUS: There's a sizable proportion of babies that do not make it to their first checkup within the first seven days of life when they're supposed to be receiving these products. And so this barrier on the commercial insurance side is causing babies to be left vulnerable.
STEIN: Hospitals could offer more kids shots, say, by signing up for a federal program that provides immunizations for free. But the American Hospital Association says that program doesn't really solve the insurance nag. In a statement to NPR, the group representing commercial insurance companies, American's Health Insurance Plans (ph), says they are fully committed to providing RSV protection to babies, but they are not required to pay for the immunizations in the hospital, only in doctors' offices.
Rob Stein, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
