FLORIDA – A group of researchers led by a University of Florida Health scientist is recommending universal immunization of pregnant women and infants against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) following a yearslong study of the impact of hospitalizing children with the illness, UF Health said on Wednesday.
According to the department, Nirma Khatri Vadlamudi, Ph.D., M.P.H., with the help of Canada-based researchers who aim to reduce the global burden of RSV cases, found that no matter where an infant is in the world, the virus can be a major cause of lung infection and pneumonia in infants.
UF Health says the research also found that infants under 6 months accounted for nearly half (45%) of RSV-related hospitalizations between 2017 and 2023, which translates to about a $23 million cost on the U.S. health care system.
“By universally providing RSV monoclonal antibodies or the maternal RSV vaccine, we can prevent young infants from serious illness associated with this virus,” Vadlamudi said. “Adding RSV monoclonal antibodies or the maternal RSV vaccine to immunization programs is strongly recommended to protect infants under 6 months from severe RSV illness.”
For the assessment, Vadlamudi and her colleagues compiled data from numerous health care resources associated with RSV-related pediatric hospitalizations by using data from the Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program, which monitors pediatric care centers across Canada, UF Health said.
The researchers tracked RSV-related hospitalizations, intensive care unit admissions, mechanical ventilation use and the number of children who died in hospitals.
The announcement from UF Health comes about a month after Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced that the state is pushing to become the first state to end all vaccine mandates, including childhood immunizations for school entry.
Ladapo currently serves as a professor of medicine at UF. He has served as the state’s surgeon general since 2021.
According to the Florida Department of Health, the current school immunization requirements include:
Childcare and/or Family Daycare
- Diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP)
- Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV)
- Measles-mumps-rubella (MMR)
- Varicella (chickenpox)
- Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)
- Pneumococcal conjugate (PCV15/20)
- Hepatitis B (Hep B)
Preschool Entry
- DTaP
- IPV
- MMR
- Varicella
- Hib
- Pneumococcal conjugate (PCV15/20)
- Hepatitis B (Hep B)
Kindergarten through 12th Grade
- Four or five doses of DTaP
- Four or five doses of IPV
- Two doses of MMR
- Three doses of Hep B
- One Tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap)
- Two doses of Varicella (kindergarten effective with 2008–2009 school year, then an additional grade is added each year thereafter). Varicella vaccine is not required if there is a history of varicella disease documented by the health care provider.