Off to the Doctor We Go...

Day 22:

You're keeping Mommy and Daddy busy, Son! While it was great to spend a full 24 hours with you yesterday - no nurses, no wires, no tubes; it was back to the Doctor's office today. This time to see your Pediatrician, Dr. Banta, in Fairfax. She's a lively woman who was as excited to meet you as anybody, and I'm confident she's going to be a great doctor for you for years to come. Dr. Banta was pleased with your size and weight, and was insistent you get a vaccination for RSV, or Respiratory Syncytial Virus. Apparently this dreaded infection is the primary cause of respiratory infection in infants worldwide.

Knowing this it would seem the vaccination for this dreaded virus would be made available to each and every child born, but no. In fact, the only reason you didn't get the vaccine in the NICU is because the cost of the vaccine is so expensive the primary insurer must approve the shot, and that approval is based on a number of factors including gestational birth period (under 35 weeks), weight (1800 grams), and time of year (between November and February). And even IF you were determined to have met the requirements, and you do, it would take several weeks to deliver the shot.

While I'm an ardent proponent of Capitalism, Conor, this is where the system can be flawed. Because the RSV vaccine is relatively new to the market there's no "generic", so the drug company can charge better than $2,500.00 per shot. What's more, because only a marginal number of infants contract RSV- roughly 100,000 hospitalized due to severe infections, each "season" (Nov through Feb)- of the 1.3 million babies born during that time, the insurance companies are willing to take the chance and NOT vaccinate / approve the vaccination against RSV. Still, this approach is all but likely to bite them in the behind down the road... Babies infected with RSV are highly probable of contracting it, as well as upper respiratory infection repeatedly. And this virus is not to be taken lightly, Conor.

I pulled the following information directly from the National Network for Immunization Information:
"Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of bronchiolitis—inflammation of the bronchioles (small airways) which causes wheezing—as well as pneumonia among infants and children under 1 year of age.1 It is estimated that by 2 years of age almost all children will have been infected with RSV, and half of them will be infected twice.2 Re-infection throughout life—usually upper respiratory infection—is common.

Most healthy infants infected with RSV are not hospitalized. However, infants with underlying lung or heart disease and those with immune deficiency are at increased risk of severe or fatal RSV infection. Each year in the United States, it is estimated that between 70,000 and 126,000 infants are hospitalized with RSV pneumonia or bronchiolitis."

Not even Conor An Chroí Lion - the mighty Lion Heart, can effectively combat an enemy he cannot see. And preemies are more susceptible than full term babies... But don't worry, Son... We'll get you that shot. Your little lungs will one day be big and mighty... Just like you.

I love you, Son.
-Dad