If you are pregnant, among all of your other decisions, you should be thinking about which RSV vaccine will best protect your baby.
And yes, you do have a few options once you decide you want your child protected against RSV, a life-threatening disease.
Which RSV Vaccine Should You Choose to Protect Your Baby?
What kind of options?
Basically, you can choose to get an RSV vaccine yourself, passing antibodies to your baby before they are born, or your baby can get the antibodies themselves, later.
So you can choose among:
Abrysvo - an RSV vaccine given to a pregnant women who is 32 to 36 weeks pregnant from September to January and at least two weeks before your baby is born. Of note, the RSV vaccine is not recommended during each pregnancy.
Beyfortus (nirsevimab) or Enflonsia (clesrovimab) - monoclonal antibodies that are given to newborns and infants less than 8 months old during their first RSV season (unless mom received Abrysvo during this pregnancy), typically from October 1 to March 31 (although the timing is sometimes extended depending on how long RSV season lasts). And of course, Beyfortus can also be given to older infants and toddlers during their second RSV season if they are high-risk.
And while it is nice to have these options, it can lead to some confusion about which is the best choice for you and your baby.
To help you make that choice, know that:
all are highly effective at protecting your infant against RSV
all are safe, with few side effects
there is no formal preference for the maternal immunization over the newborn/infant antibodies from any medical organization
Still, there might be a few situations in which getting Abrysvo could make more sense than waiting to get Beyfortus or Enflonsia…
What happens if your baby is born and you can’t get the antibody shot for your baby?
Or what happens if your baby could be exposed to RSV before they got their antibody shot?
How?
Do you have older kids at home who are in daycare or school already? If so, then it might make a little more sense to make sure your baby is protected from day one, right?
Can you do that with an antibody shot?
Maybe…
After making sure they are available, you could try to get your baby a shot for Beyfortus or Enflonsia before you even leave the nursery. After all, they do provide immediate protection. Of course, that only works if the nursery or your pediatrician actually has the shot…
So perhaps, at least in this situation, it could be a better idea to get the vaccine while you are still pregnant…
What else?
Some preliminary studies suggest that monoclonal antibodies might be a little more effective, providing better protection against hospitalization.
But what about getting both, a vaccine for mom and monoclonal antibodies for your baby?
Know that studies have not yet found any additional benefit from a dual vaccination strategy.
Studies have been done showing that both are safe and effective though, so don’t skip out on getting your baby protected.