Health Quebec will launch its immunization campaign against the syncytial respiratory virus (VRS) on September 30. It aims to administer a monoclonal antibody, Nirsévimab, 90 % of babies who will have 6 months and less during the viral season. An ambitious objective, set following last year’s success.
More than 56,000 doses of Nirsévimab were administered during the first immunization campaign last year, practically twice as expected, according to Health Quebec.
“It is nearly 75 % of babies born during the circulation of the virus that received it,” says Martine Leblanc-Constant, director of public health operations at the Crown Company.
The VRS is a very common and very contagious virus, which manifests itself as a cold in preschool and school children as well as in adults. But it can have serious consequences in babies under 1 year.
“This is the number one cause of hospitalization during the first year of life,” says the Dr Jesse Papenburg, pediatric infectiousologist and medical microbiologist at the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
The doctor explains that the VRS manages to reach the lungs of babies more easily since they have no immunity against it. The virus can then cause bronchiolitis (bronchiole infection, the terminal ramifications of the bronchi) or pneumonia and cause hospitalization.
Less hospitalizations
Thanks to Nirsévimab, fewer children were hospitalized for the VRS in the last viral season, according to preliminary results from the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (Inspq).
“A baby who had received the Nirsévimab was 85 % less likely of an emergency visit, hospitalization or admission to intensive care due to the Vrs than a baby who had not received the prevention treatment,” said the Dr Papenburg, co -author of the study currently conducted by the Inspq.
More than 1000 hospitalizations and more than 100 intensive care admissions have been avoided, according to a data-based modeling of the 2023-2024 season (without an immunization program), reports the Dr Papenburg.
At the Quebec CHU – Laval University, the effect of Nirsévimab was manifest, according to the Dr Marc-André Dugas, head of the Pediatrics department at the Mother-Enfant Soleil center.
“We have never had such a quiet winter,” says the pediatrician, who works in intensive care.
Good news for babies and their families as well as for the health system, he underlines. “We were able to do our [opérations non urgentes]. »
Babies with Vrs occupied less beds with intensive care, which left room for patients to be hospitalized in this unit following a non -urgent operation.
Offered from September 30
According to Santé Québec, the immunization against the VRS will be offered from September 30 in hospitals, CLSCs or local service points. Baby parents will also be able to make an appointment on CLIC Santé from September 21.
The Dr Papenburg encourages parents to immunize their child. He indicates that preventive treatment, “extremely safe”, has only one side effect: pain or reaction to the injection site in “less than 2 %” of patients.
Health Quebec is not able, at present, to indicate the exact criteria of eligibility for free immunization against the VRS.
“We are currently waiting for an INSPQ update concerning the Quebec immunization protocol,” said one. We should have more information in mid-September. »»
Last year, infants under 6 months of age and some babies with increased risks of complications were entitled to it.