As family physicians, we’ve seen firsthand the fear and helplessness that the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) brings to families. It’s the leading cause of infant hospitalizations in Canada, with 1 in 50 infants hospitalized during their first year of life. Healthy-term babies account for the largest proportion of infants who get sick with severe RSV disease each year. The highest rate of infant hospitalization due to RSV occurs in the first three months of life.

Despite its severity, RSV remains largely unknown to the public. Until recently, the only preventive option—palivizumab—was limited to high-risk infants, leaving 98 per cent of babies unprotected in many provinces.

Canada now has two newly approved and highly effective tools to prevent RSV in infants: a maternal vaccine kn

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