January 28, 2025 | CBC News
A new study is showing a policy change in 2016 related to the vaccination of some premature babies for RSV in Nova Scotia led to a tenfold increase in the number of infants in that group that were hospitalized with the respiratory virus.
The policy was reversed in 2023. Halifax pediatric infectious disease physician Joanne Langley said the study shows why it’s crucial to examine the effects of policy changes and to prevent infants from contracting RSV.
“We wanted to make sure that there weren’t a lot of children that would be harmed by that policy,” said Langley, who led the study. “And what we found is that there was a much higher number of admissions when we restricted access to the antibody.”