Older age, Black race, very low Child Opportunity Index, public insurance linked to lower rates of nirsevimab receipt
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, July 22, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Despite near universal availability of nirsevimab, only 35 percent of eligible children receive nirsevimab for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) prophylaxis, according to a study published online July 17 in Pediatrics.
Mahaa M. Ahmed, from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues examined the distribution of nirsevimab to determine factors associated with receipt of nirsevimab among children younger than 8 months attending one of 32 pediatric primary care practices with almost universal nirsevimab eligibility.
Overall, 35 percent of 7,208 eligible patients received nirsevimab, varying from 20 to 65 percent across practices. The researchers found that the rates of nirsevimab receipt were lower in association with older age (odds ratio, 0.60 for each additional month), Black race (odds ratio, 0.53 versus White infants), very low Child Opportunity Index (COI) scores (odds ratio, 0.70 versus very high COI), and public insurance (0.79 versus private insurance).
“The identification of sociodemographic factors associated with receipt of nirsevimab emphasizes the importance of examining the drivers of these disparities to inform interventions designed to ensure more equitable uptake so that all children are protected from RSV,” the authors write.
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