Most pregnant women, parents would choose maternal RSV vaccine over infant shot

Pregnant women and parents of young kids said they would rather receive the maternal respiratory syncytial virus vaccine during pregnancy to protect their child against the virus, a national survey published in JAMA Network Open found. Among pregnant women eligible for the maternal vaccine, 55.5% said they would rather receive it, while 6.2% said they preferred their infant get the shot. Among parents of young kids, 48.3% reported they would want the maternal vaccine, while 9.4% would choose their kids to receive it. Both methods are highly effective at preventing RSV. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the virus caused between 58,000 to 80,000 hospitalizations annually among children under age five before the U.S. introduced the immunizations in 2023. (CIDRAP news article, 7/28/26)