A major population-based study from Scotland has delivered compelling real-world evidence on the effectiveness of maternal RSV vaccination, revealing that babies born to vaccinated mothers had around 80% lower risk of hospitalisation due to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in their first three months of life.

Published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, the study was led by Public Health Scotland (PHS) in collaboration with the Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde, Edinburgh, and Oxford. The findings underline a significant breakthrough in protecting infants against one of the most common and potentially severe respiratory infections affecting young children worldwide.

Strong Protection During Peak RSV Season

RSV infections are highly seasonal and pose a heightened risk to newborns, particularly those born prematurely. Scotland’s 2024–25 RSV season saw rising cases among infants under one year old. However, the introduction of the maternal RSV vaccine in August 2024 has markedly changed the clinical landscape.

The vaccine is now offered year-round to pregnant women from 28 weeks of gestation, enabling them to develop and transfer protective antibodies to their babies before birth. By August 2025, more than 50% of eligible pregnant women in Scotland had received the vaccine — enough uptake to deliver measurable population-level impact.

Hospital Admissions Plummet After Vaccine Rollout

The research compared RSV-related hospitalisations before and after the vaccination programme began:

• In 2023–24, prior to the vaccine rollout, nearly 600 infants under three months were admitted to the hospital with severe RSV infections.
• In 2024–25, with comparable RSV circulation levels, infants whose mothers had been vaccinated had a dramatic reduction in severe cases, accounting for 219 fewer hospital admissions.

Importantly, the protective effect extended to preterm infants, who often face the highest risk of complications.

Timing Matters: Early Vaccination Offers Maximum Benefit

The study highlighted that mothers vaccinated within 14 days of delivery did not transfer sufficient antibodies to protect their infants, reinforcing the importance of receiving the vaccine as close to 28 weeks as possible for optimal immunity.

Expert Perspectives

Dr. Louisa Pollock, Clinical Senior Lecturer at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research and Consultant Paediatrician at Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children, urged pregnant women to take advantage of the new intervention. She noted that wider uptake will mean “fewer very sick babies and fewer distressed families” during peak respiratory illness seasons.

Professor Antonia Ho, Professor of Infectious Diseases at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, emphasised the broader system-level impact. With the vaccine reducing hospital admissions by about 80%, she noted the potential for easing winter pressures on healthcare services while offering newborns vital early-life protection.

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A Breakthrough for Public Health and Pharma Collaboration

The study, titled “Effectiveness of the maternal RSVpreF vaccine against severe disease in infants in Scotland, UK”, provides some of the strongest real-world evidence supporting maternal immunisation strategies for RSV prevention. For the pharmaceutical industry, the findings strengthen confidence in maternal vaccination programmes as scalable, high-impact public health tools that can significantly reduce infant morbidity while supporting health-system resilience.

As RSV continues to pose unpredictable seasonal challenges globally, these results are expected to catalyse greater adoption of maternal RSV vaccination and inform immunisation policies in other countries.

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