As new data is published on the uptake of the RSV vaccine among pregnant women, Clare Livingstone the RCM’s Professional Advisor for Policy and Public Health looks at the role midwives are playing in the rollout of this vaccine
Midwives play a vital role in public health, providing care for women, their babies and families. When it comes to protecting health and promoting wellbeing, we are often the first point of contact for information and advice to women and birthing people, on a range of health issues including lifesaving vaccinations.
Evidence has shown us that vaccination in pregnancy has huge benefits, conferring immunity through the placenta, providing vital protection to babies during the early weeks of life, until routine vaccination can be given at 8 weeks.
Winter pressures are a persistent public health challenge and right now the NHS is coping with a quad-emic of flu, RSV, norovirus and COVID-19 and we all have responsibility to do what we can to limit the effects among the pregnant women in our care.
Pertussis, flu and COVID-19 are all recommended Vaccinations in pregnancy – NHS in addition to the new maternal Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine this makes for a crowded schedule of antenatal care interventions. Pregnant women should be offered their RSV vaccine around the time of the 28-week antenatal appointment.
New data published this week shows that one in three women took up the offer of the RSV vaccine during its first month of being available in September which is positive. However, the data has also shown considerable variability in uptake by ethnic group ranging from 11 percent in women of mixed white and black Caribbean ethnicity to over to over 50 percent white Irish and Chinese ethnic groups.
So as midwives, there is more work to do to ensure we can deal with concerns and questions around vaccinations during antenatal care. We know that during appointments it is not always possible to provide all the information, reassurance and support that is needed and there isn’t always time to discuss each vaccine in detail. Tommy’s the baby charity have produced an excellent guide which is well worth promoting as a trusted source of information.
We appreciate the RSV programme was rolled out at breakneck speed and we have been listening to our members and RCM reps about their concerns over workforce capacity, training availability to deliver new vaccinations at pace. We have worked with UKHSA and NHSE to ensure that resources, including patient-facing publications and training, in the form of two webinars, were available for staff to support them.
However, we know that some maternity services have faced considerable challenges in implementing vaccination programs and have needed to send women to their GPs instead. This further reinforces the RCM’s calls for the right staff, in the right place with the right education and training. We will continue calling for this as we know while midwives bring new life into the world, we also provide vital public health interventions that protect the health of a woman and her unborn baby during pregnancy, but more than that the care midwives provide during the entire perinatal period makes a difference to their lifelong health and that is something we should all be very proud of.