RSV vaccine offered to Cork and Kerry babies as HSE programme enters final winter

Babies across Cork and Kerry will receive free RSV protection this winter, but the HSE has yet to confirm future funding

RSV is a common winter virus, but it can cause serious illness for babies, especially newborns. Picture: iStock

New mothers can get the RSV vaccine for their babies this winter at maternity hospitals and GP practices in Cork and Kerry, in what could be the final year of the free programme.

In April, Hiqa advised that immunisation against RSV is safe and effective, but also very expensive. It said the costs suggested by Sanofi/AstraZeneca need to be almost halved.

The HSE has not yet said if it intends to continue the programme after this winter, when the three-year pilot project ends.

Babies born between September 1, 2026, and February 28, 2027, will be offered RSV immunisation in maternity hospitals before discharge, where possible.

Babies born between March 1 and August 31, 2026, can receive the immunisation through participating GP practices.

In addition, babies at higher risk of serious RSV illness can access a specialist pathway.

This will roll out across Cork and Kerry under HSE South West as part of the national campaign.

Dr Anne Sheahan is the regional director of public health at HSE South West.

“RSV immunisation has been a game changer for protecting babies from serious illness during the winter months,” she said on Friday.

“It is very safe, highly effective and gives babies protection at a time when they are particularly vulnerable to RSV.” 

She advised: “We strongly encourage parents of every eligible baby in Cork and Kerry to take up the offer of free RSV immunisation.

“It is a simple step that can make a very real difference in keeping babies well and out of hospital this winter."

RSV is a common winter virus, but it can cause serious illness for babies, especially newborns.

The immunisation is given as a single dose of nirsevimab.

This gives babies immediate protection and helps protect against severe infection and hospitalisation.

High uptake reported last winter 

A HSE South West spokeswoman said last winter there was a high uptake across the various groups of babies.

This led, she said, to “substantial reductions in RSV-related ED presentations, hospitalisations, and ICU admissions”.

The HSE recorded 550 ED presentations, 450 hospitalisations to general paediatric wards and 40 intensive care unit admissions averted.

The vaccinations also helped avert 1,700 non-ICU hospital bed days and 300 ICU bed days.

After Hiqa published its advice in April, many mothers whose children were previously ill with RSV spoke out in favour of the immunisations.

In 2023, Lynn Power’s baby Rian was on a ventilator for 10 days at University Hospital Waterford because of RSV as doctors battled to save him.

She described watching him being put on a ventilator as “horrific”, though she knew it was life-saving.

“There’s no other word for watching a child being intubated. I can’t say enough good things about the care that he got in Waterford,” she said.

Rian was also treated at CHI at Temple St Hospital in Dublin.

Children’s Health Ireland clinical director and paediatric emergency medicine consultant Turlough Bolger also supported funding for the immunisation.