LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — RSV season is here and so is a new vaccine for little ones.
While it can be a scary time for many families— the new vaccine is already being used to better protect our youngest generation.
"We can do this one time and protect infants all the way through the RSV season," said Dr. Josh Lyon with All For Kids Pediatric Clinic in Little Rock.
He is eager to get his hands on the new RSV shot.
"We've already started to see RSV starting to pick up and pick up through some of the daycares and the school settings. And so knowing that the hospitals are already dealing with it, knowing that we're already starting to see families come in worried about it. I think we're all really excited to see how this changes things this year," he described.
Although All For Kids doesn't have the shots just yet, Dr. Lyon said parents have been asking when their babies can get it.
"The studies with this one show that about 80% of hospitalizations can be reduced by doing this vaccine," he added.
Though this one is different than the previous one because Dr. Lyon said it's available to all infants who are eight months and younger and it's only one single injection.
The last one required a shot every month during RSV season.
"Your high-risk kids will be able to do through a second season. So you've been through 19 months old. The previous one [was] expensive, time-consuming, difficult to do difficult to get. And so this will be I think, a much better solution," he said.
As far as RSV season goes, Dr. Lyon said he expects to see cases rise as it gets colder.
"With that, you're seeing your youngest kids really affected, really winding up with more hospitalizations. And so I think that's very much the expectation on everyone's mind for this year, which is part of why we're all so excited to have this option," he explained.
He called it a game changer to protect one of our most vulnerable populations.
"We're physically giving a child antibodies to fight off the infection, as opposed to their bodies having to make a new immune response, which is really cool," he said.
Dr. Lyon expects to receive a batch of the shots in the next week.