A HSE immunisation programme to protect newborn babies against the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) will run from September to the end of February next.
RSV is a common virus that causes respiratory infections in young babies and the risk of severe infection is highest in young infants, according to the HSE.
Up to 28,000 babies born between September 2024 and February 2025 will be offered the new immunisation, free of charge in every maternity hospital before they are discharged home.
This corresponds to the time of year when RSV is mainly circulating.
The Cabinet approved the vaccination programme in June.
In winter 2023/2024, there were 118 paediatric intensive care unit (ICU) admissions of infants aged under one attributed to RSV.
Dr Eamonn O' Moore, Director of the HSE National Health Protection Office, said that each winter here, one in two newborn babies get RSV and many will need medical care from their GP, or the emergency department of a children's hospital.
Four out of a hundred newborn babies are hospitalised due to RSV.
The vaccine - nirsevimab - has been recommended by the HSE and the National Immunisation Advisory Committee and approved by the European Medicines Agency.
It begins working as soon as the baby receives the injection and protects for 150 days, or five months, the average length of an RSV season.
Based on studies in Spain, it is estimated that the vaccination programme will lead to the avoidance of up to 453 hospitalisations and up to 48 ICU admissions here.
