What to know about the RSV vaccine rollout in Minnesota

The spike in cases of the respiratory virus RSV last year was terrifying for many parents. This season, new vaccines for infants, pregnant people and older adults could bring relief.

But there have been bumps along the way, including some reports around the country that the supply of the new vaccine for infants is coming up short. Insurance coverage has also caused confusion, with some adult patients being asked to pay more than $300 for the vaccine.

Lynn Bahta is a public health nurse with the Minnesota Department of Health who advises clinics and MDH on immunizations. She joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the RSV vaccine rollout in Minnesota.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

What is RSV?

RSV is a virus that causes respiratory symptoms, and it stands for respiratory syncytial virus. It can be very serious, especially in the old and frail and among the very young, especially kids under two; they can end up in the hospital with pretty bad lung disease.

What's causing the shortages of vaccines?

We haven’t really heard specifics about a shortage, we know that demand has certainly far exceeded the supply. I think we'd have to talk with the manufacturer to find out if there’s anything that’s holding back production. It’s also not unusual to see these bumps along the way when we are introducing new vaccines.

Sometimes the supply is initially irregular, as there’s some areas where there’s a lot of demand, and doctors are still trying to figure out how much supply they need to order and the company has to predict how many doses to make available as well.

What do you think it might take for everyone who wants a vaccine to be able to get one, especially those kids?

I think some patience will be an important part of this as we launch this new program. It is an expensive product and so a lot of smaller clinics are trying to build the budget they need to take this product on board. I think we’re also watching the manufacturer to see if they can keep up with the demand.

In the meantime, if parents can’t find product from their own provider, they should talk to their provider about what other tools they can use to protect their young infant.

What would those be?

Avoiding contact with sick people, so not allowing sick visitors to visit babies. Masking is still something that can be done for respiratory illnesses. The other thing for kids that are extremely high risk, and these would be kids that might have very weak immune systems or maybe very premature.

There is another product that can be used. It’s just not as convenient as the product that's coming out for all infants but that is something that could be used for very high-risk children.

Did we learn anything from the COVID-19 vaccine rollout that could be helpful in this instance?

I think the COVID rollout was very much of a public rollout, meaning that the vaccine was paid for by the federal government and so issues of payment were not there. We didn’t have providers who had to pay for the vaccine and then hope that the insurance company would cover the cost of that vaccine when they would give it to people.

In this more commercialized environment, those are considerations that can cause stuttering in the startup of new vaccines.

How are the new COVID shots doing?

We’re seeing good uptake, but probably not as great as we want. We are seeing scattered shortages of product in certain clinics, some people can get a product in their clinic, but not the product they want.

There are some glitches, again, we’ve moved from that public distribution to a more privatized distribution. And so the clinics are responsible for figuring out how many people are going to come to our clinic and request this.

There are lots of infrastructural considerations that have to be made. That oftentimes slows the initiation or the implementation of people getting vaccinated, but we are seeing pretty robust activity right now.

Where can people find vaccines?

Probably the easiest would be the CDC’s vaccines.gov. That will have listings of clinics that are providing the COVID vaccine in the state or in the area that a person lives in. I do not believe that is available though for people looking for the RSV vaccine.

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