Since last year, Spain has had a treatment to protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that is available and funded in all autonomous communities. This is nirsevimab, a monoclonal antibody that seeks to prevent bronchiolitis in infants, for whom this respiratory infection can be very serious and even lethal. The results, experts agree, are “spectacular.”
Since it began to be used, first in some autonomous communities such as Galicia or Andalusia and then in the rest of the territory, “there has been a very significant reduction in Primary Care services, in hospital emergencies and in hospital admissions above all.” of infants under 6 months with bronchiolitis. In Spain, it is estimated that around 10,000 admissions for these children have been avoided,” explains Fernando Moraga-Llop, pediatrician and spokesperson for the Spanish Association of Vaccinology (AEV).
Thus, every year all children under 6 months of age are immunized. It is not a vaccine, Moraga-Llop points out, “it is a passive immunization because it gives the body the already manufactured antibodies. “On the other hand, a vaccine is an active immunization because what it causes the body to produce antibodies.” And its acceptance, this pediatrician assures, is “massive”: “The coverage percentages that have been obtained have been greater than 99 percent.”
Children born in October, when the season for this immunization begins, are generally administered nirsevimab in the hospital itself during the first 24 or 48 hours of life, explains Valentí Pineda, member of the committee. vaccine advisor of the Spanish Pediatric Association. “And those born after April are administered in Primary Care centers but there are also some communities that partially administer it in the hospital,” he continues.
“An impressive success”
Spain was the first country to implement this immunization and other countries have already followed in its footsteps, celebrates Pineda, who describes the treatment as “an impressive success.” «Admissions to the ICU and ward have been reduced by 90 percent. It has had a very important impact because we have almost emptied the pediatric floors of the hospitals,” he says. In years ago, between November and February, he says, half of the admissions of children were due to respiratory syncytial virus in children under 6 months of age and now “the reduction has been spectacular.” Furthermore, Moraga-Llop points out, paediatricians are very aware of the importance of this treatment because years ago they saw many “very serious” cases. Nirsevimab, professionals insist, does not prevent the infection, but it does prevent its severity.
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