Netherlands to give all newborns access to RSV antibody jab starting September
Starting in September 2025, all babies born in the Netherlands on or after April 1, 2025, will be eligible to receive a jab against the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. The viral infection sends up to 3,000 children to hospitals each year and places heavy pressure on pediatric intensive care units, according to Dutch public health institute RIVM.
The shot will be included in the National Immunisation Programme and is designed to protect babies during their first year of life, when the risk of severe illness is highest. The new injection is not a vaccine but a direct immunization with antibodies that provide immediate protection lasting about six months. Side effects are reportedly rare and usually mild, such as rash, fever, or swelling at the injection site.
The rollout follows a severe RSV wave this winter that forced hospitals to postpone surgeries and other planned care. About half of the country’s 90 pediatric ICU beds were filled with children suffering serious RSV-related breathing problems.
RSV, a cold virus that circulates mainly in autumn and winter, often begins with runny nose, cough, and fever, but can progress to wheezing, pneumonia, or dangerous pauses in breathing. One out of every 56 healthy infants is hospitalized with the virus, and 150 to 200 children require intensive care annually.
One to two people die from the infection each year, though access to treatment keeps the death toll low compared with developing countries. Premature babies, children with Down syndrome, and those with congenital heart conditions are at especially high risk. Globally, RSV is the second leading cause of death in children after malaria.
In countries where the antibody injection is already in use, RSV-related hospital admissions have reportedly fallen by 80 percent. Parents will receive details from their obstetric care provider, RIVM, or the well-baby clinic, which will also arrange the appointment.
The Dutch Health Council has recommended protecting all infants in their first year, saying that maternal vaccination during pregnancy is less reliable because protection wears off before the next RSV season or is insufficient in premature births.
The breakthrough follows more than five decades of research. In 2020, pediatric infectiologist Louis Bont of the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital called the new antibody a “game changer,” noting that an older treatment required monthly injections and was limited to only the most vulnerable babies. “That changes everything,” he said back then.
