Protect Your Baby Against RSV!

If your baby was born on March 1, 2025 or later they should receive additional protection against RSV. If your child does not have a well checked schedule before turning 8 months old OR does not have a well checked scheduled before December 1 we encourage you to call for an appointment to provide this protection after reading the information below.

What is RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus)?

RSV is a common respiratory virus that can infect people of any age. RSV can be seen at any time of the year but it is most common between November - March. It typically causes cold symptoms in children and adults but in young infants it can cause a much more severe infection called "bronchiolitis". Infants with bronchiolitis develop inflammation in their lungs that can be severe. Babies with severe infection can require hospitalization to received extra oxygen. Some babies become sick enough to require being placed on a ventilator in an intensive care unit. Babies who were born prematurely are at highest risk of severe infection. For more information about RSV go to https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/about/index.html

How Can I Protect My Baby Against RSV?

Currently there are two ways of giving your baby extra protection against RSV:

• If you are pregnant during the RSV season your obstetrician may offer to give you a vaccine for RSV when you are between 32-36 weeks pregnant. This vaccine will cause you to produce antibodies that will be passed on to your baby before birth and will continue to be passed on after birth if you breast feed.
• We can provide temporary protection against RSV by giving your baby an injection of purified antibodies to RSV called nirsevimab (brand name is Beyfortus). Ideally this one-time injection should be given to infants born during the RSV season as soon after birth as possible. It is recommended that any baby born on March 1, 2025 or later be immunized with this vaccine on October 1 or later. Once babies reach 8 months of age they will no longer be eligible for the injection.

For more information about both the maternal vaccine and the antibody injection for babies, go to https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/vaccines/protect-infants.html

How Can Valley Pediatric Group Help Protect My Baby From RSV?

Valley Pediatric Group will begin giving the Beyfortus immunization on or after October 1, 2025. Though we will start scheduling these appointments immediately, they are tentative and dependent on receiving shipment of Beyfortus prior to those dates. If we have not received adequate shipments of Beyfortus prior to that date we will contact you to reschedule. The following are important considerations:

• Beyfortus is expensive. Our 2025-26 charge for Beyfortus will be $640 plus an additional $30-$48 administration fee. This is an immunization that is recommended by the CDC. As such, most insurance plans are required to cover it. If you are uninsured or are participating in a cost sharing plan we will require you to pay the full price of the immunization and administration fee before the immunization is given.
• Because of the expense, we encourage you to call your insurance company ahead of time to verify that this will be covered. If your insurance plan requests a billing code (called a CPT code) the code for the immunization itself will be 90380 or 90381 (depending on your baby's weight). The administration fee code will be 96380 or 96381 (depending on whether or not the doctor talks with you directly about the immunization before it is given by a member of our clinical staff). We will charge one charge for the immunization and one charge for the administration fee.
• Beyfortus can only be given to infants under 8 months old. Once your baby turns 8 months old we will be unable to give them the immunization.
• If mom received the RSV vaccine between 32-36 weeks of pregnancy your baby does not need Beyfortus. However, if your baby was born less than two weeks after receiving the RSV vaccine, they will not be adequately covered by the vaccine mom received. In that case Beyfortus is recommended
• Beyfortus can be given with other routine childhood vaccines. If your child is eligible for Beyfortus at the time of their well check appointment your child's doctor will discuss giving a dose of Beyfortus at that visit.

Beyfortus has become an important tool for protecting babies against RSV. Although it is expensive, it decreases the rates of hospitalization for RSV significantly, protecting thousands of babies from severe illness and ultimately causing a decreased total health care cost. This is an immunization that the doctors of Valley Pediatric Group are strongly encouraging.