Canberra, Nov 10 (IANS) The Australian government has said it will make vaccination against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) free for newborns and pregnant women starting in 2025.
Mark Butler, the minister for health, on Sunday, announced 174.5 million Australian dollars ($114.8 million) in funding to subsidise RSV vaccinations following a spike in cases in 2024.
According to the government, 12,000 Australian babies are admitted to hospital every year with severe cases of RSV — a contagious virus mostly affecting young children that causes infections of the respiratory tract, reports Xinhua news agency.
Under the new program, women who are between 28 and 36 weeks pregnant will be eligible for a free vaccine from February, giving protection to their unborn children.
Additionally, all children younger than two years whose mothers were not immunised during pregnancy will also be eligible for free vaccination in winter when RSV infections typically occur.
The maternal RSV vaccine is currently only available in Australia to women in the late stages of pregnancy and costs up to 350 AUD ($230.3).
Australia has recorded over 165,000 cases of RSV so far in 2024, up from 128,117 in 2023 and 95,959 in 2022, according to data from the Department of Health’s National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System.
Of the 2024 cases, 82,048 were recorded in children aged 0-4 and another 14,016 in those aged 5-9.
–IANS
int/sd/
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by TodayIndia.news and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of TodayIndia.news We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, TodayIndia.news takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
For any legal details or query please visit original source link given with news or click on Go to Source.
Our translation service aims to offer the most accurate translation possible and we rarely experience any issues with news post. However, as the translation is carried out by third part tool there is a possibility for error to cause the occasional inaccuracy. We therefore require you to accept this disclaimer before confirming any translation news with us.
If you are not willing to accept this disclaimer then we recommend reading news post in its original language.
