Vaccinating expectant mothers against RSV reduces hospital admissions in young infants by at least 80 per cent, according to a major study of nearly 300,000 babies in England.  The research – the largest real world analysis of maternal RSV vaccinations – tracked the electronic health records of 289,399 infants born in England in the year after September 2024, when the rollout of RSV shots for pregnant women began .  Researchers compared the rates of RSV-related hospitalisations among babies whose mothers did and did not receive an immunisation. Overall, they found that vaccinating expectant mothers at least two weeks before childbirth reduced the risk of hospitalisation by 81.3 per cent.  Timing mattered: if the vaccine was administered four weeks ahead of birth protection rose to 85 per cent, as there is more time to boost the immune system and pass antibodies to the baby through the placenta.…