Simple steps, including three different vaccines, can help protect you and your family this winter.
- eligible individuals are urged to come forward for their flu jab, COVID-19 booster and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine
- the RSV vaccine is separate and easy to forget
- RSV is a common virus that circulates every winter and can lead to serious illness
Simple steps, including 3 different vaccines, can help protect you and your family this winter.
Flu vaccinations are already underway across Wales, and many people are used to coming forward for their flu jab or their COVID-19 booster.
But the RSV vaccine is separate and easy to forget, especially by those who assume their flu jab covers them against RSV too. It doesn't, and both matter.
For Joanne, a health visitor from Pembrokeshire, the dangers of RSV are very real.
Her daughter was admitted to hospital on Christmas Eve after testing positive for RSV. Her right lung had filled with mucus, and she was placed on a CPAP machine to help her breathe.
Joanne said:
Watching your baby struggle to breathe is terrifying. She came so close to needing to be intubated and spent three weeks on the high dependency unit.
Even after we brought her home, I was so afraid of her getting sick again that it changed how we lived our lives, how often we saw family and friends. For the whole of her first year, every cold meant another trip to the GP, needing inhalers, or going back into hospital just so she could breathe properly.
I want other parents to understand that RSV isn't just a bad cold. If you're offered the vaccine, whether that's during pregnancy or for someone you love who's older, please take it up. It could save your family from going through what we did.
Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is a common virus that circulates every winter.
It usually causes mild symptoms, but for babies, older people and those with weakened immune systems, it can lead to serious illness, including bronchiolitis and pneumonia, with up to 1,000 hospital admissions and 9,000 GP appointments among over-75s in Wales each year.
The RSV vaccine is offered routinely year-round to all adults aged 75 and over, and pregnant women to help protect newborn babies from the virus. Older people only need the vaccine once and pregnant women should have the vaccine with every pregnancy.
This September, as part of the new Welsh Government’s revised winter preparedness strategy and focus on prevention, the offer has also been extended to higher-risk adults aged 65 to 74, including those who are immunosuppressed or have chronic respiratory disease.
Deputy Minister for Public and Preventative Health, Nerys Evans, said:
Joanne's story is a powerful reminder of how serious RSV can be, not just for older people but also for our smallest and most vulnerable babies. No parent should have to spend Christmas at their baby's hospital bedside.
I urge all who are eligible to come forward for their flu jab, their COVID-19 booster and their RSV vaccine. They protect against different viruses, and it really can make the difference between a mild illness and a serious hospital stay.
