RSV, or Respiratory Syncytial Virus, is a highly contagious virus that causes bronchitis in infants, and every year is responsible for hundreds of deaths in children under the age of five in the United States, according to a release from Intermountain Children’s Heath. Intermountain Children’s Health leads the effort in making Utah the safest for babies from RSV. Utah babies with RSV protection are nine times less likely to be hospitalized and five times less likely to need intensive care to help them breathe if hospitalized, the release said.

Additionally, Intermountain Children’s Health gathered data about how RSV protection affected Utah infant patients and young children in the 2024-2025 RSV season. It found: 

• 16,000 Utah Intermountain infant patients and about 20 percent of expectant mothers received RSV protection. 

• Just 1 in 400 babies with RSV protection were hospitalized. By comparison, 1 in 48 babies without RSV protection were hospitalized. Of those hospitalized, fewer than 1 in 1,000 protected babies needed intensive care to help them breathe, compared to 1 in 200 unprotected babies.  

• So far this RSV season (fall through early spring), twice as many expectant mothers – 40% – have opted for RSV protection. 

Intermountain’s efforts to push Utah to this top spot have included awareness programs for pediatricians, obstetricians, and mom-and-baby care providers in Utah, Colorado, and Montana. As a result of this, before the 24-25 RSV season began, pediatricians’ offices called families with recently born infants. They targeted families who had not received RSV treatment and offered to make appointments to give RSV vaccines, the release said.  

The vaccines can be administered to the mother during pregnancy or the infant after being born. Pre-delivery, the mother can be administered the maternal RSV protection Abrysvo and pass the antibodies to their babies to help protect them through their first few vulnerable months. Infants whose moms did not receive the shot during pregnancy, as well as those born outside of the RSV season, can receive the RSV protection in the form of Nirsevimab Monoclonal antibodies at the start of every October. 

“The ability to keep babies... out of the hospital with a single shot is a game-changer,” said Carolyn Reynolds, executive director of Intermountain Children’s Health-Ambulatory program. “Families are seeing that this is something that can really boost health for infants, relieve hospitals from overcrowding and reduce costs for everyone. The data we collected shows that we made a huge difference.”