Minister for Health and Aged Care - Press Conference - 19 January 2025

MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE, MARK BUTLER: Thanks for coming to the terrific Women's and Children's Hospital. I'm joined here by Professor Helen Marshall who's the head of vaccinology here in South Australia. Anne Harris, who's the country manager for Pfizer, which is the sponsor for the vaccine that we're talking about today. And Deanne, who's here with her beautiful daughter, Winter, to talk about her experience with RSV.

Today, we're starting the roll out of the most comprehensive protection program for babies in the world, protection against RSV. We know that RSV is the biggest driver of hospitalisation of babies and infants in Australia, hospitalising, on average, around 12,000 babies every year, primarily during the winter season. A quarter of those little ones end up in the intensive care unit. It’s very, very big pressure on the hospital system, but obviously an enormous driver of distress for parents who bought their beautiful newborns home, and often only within a few weeks or a couple of months, have to take their precious babies back to hospital because of this really devastating illness. The central piece of our protection program is a new cutting-edge vaccine, Abrysvo, which has been sponsored by Pfizer, and it is now listed on the National Immunization program. It means that from the 3rd of February, pregnant mums will have access to this highly effective protection for their newborns completely free of charge. Before the listing on the NIP, this will cost pregnant mums and their families around $300, which we know is hard to find at a time when you're starting to prepare for the arrival of your precious new baby. This highly effective protection, completely free of charge. All you need is your Medicare card.

As a backup to this vaccine, which will be recommended for mums during their third trimester - so between 28 and 36 weeks - for those babies whose mothers have not taken advantage of this vaccine program immediately upon being born, state governments in hospitals like this will also have a backup treatment, which they'll be able to deliver to the newborn baby immediately after birth, called Beyfortus. That will be available in South Australia to newborn babies from the 1st of April until the 30th of September. Again, completely free of charge.

These two programs, the maternal vaccine, for pregnant mums in their third trimester, and for those babies whose mum haven't taken advantage of that, a treatment delivered immediately after birth with the other newborn injections like Vitamin K and the Hepatitis B vaccine, this will deliver enormous protection to our precious babies. A huge investment in the health of our newborn babies. As I said, around 12,000 hospitalisations every year. We think that this program, the maternal vaccine, and the vaccine for newborns, will reduce that number by as much as 10,000 hospitalisations. An enormous relief to mums and dads who've just had their precious newborn baby, but also a huge relief to pressured hospitals like the Women's and Children's Hospital during those difficult winter months. I'll hand over to Professor Marshall to talk about some of the clinical effectiveness of this vaccine

ADELAIDE WOMEN’S AND CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, VACCINOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY RESEARCH TRIALS UNIT, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, PROFESSOR HELEN MARSHALL AM: RSV is a really nasty virus. It infects all Australian children by five years of age. But the most important thing here is those babies under six months of age. They are at much higher risk of having severe infection and disease and requiring hospitalisation. For some of those babies, they will be so unwell that they do need to be managed in intensive care. Babies develop a fever, a cough, and can also get a nasty wheeze as the virus infects the cells of the nose, the throat and the lungs. This results in rapid breathing for the baby. As you can imagine, with rapid breathing, it's very hard for a baby to feed as well, and so you get the problems of not only rapid breathing, but inability to feed properly, and that baby ending up in hospital, requiring oxygen, sometimes even needing to be ventilated, but also to assist with feeding. This is obviously a really difficult time for families where there may be other children in the family. You want to bring that baby home. You want that baby to feed well, to gain weight, to develop well and with this virus, it affects all of those things. So being able to provide pregnant women with a vaccine, and we know that pregnant women do want to be vaccinated, where the virus is actually going to affect their baby, potentially, that pregnant women will develop antibodies to the vaccine. Those antibodies are transferred through the placenta to the newborn developing baby, so that as soon as that baby is born, they are protected, have protective antibodies against the nasty RSV virus.
 
DEANNE TINGEY: When my daughter, Winter, was six weeks old, she contracted RSV. It started off with a simple cold, and that's all we thought it was, but she quickly deteriorated, and when we ended up at the GPs office, we were sent straight to the hospital. By the time we got to the hospital, she was needing oxygen and she was needing a feeding tube. She hadn't fed in over 24 hours. Over the next week, every time she was taken off the oxygen, she would drop her oxygen levels and she would start struggling to breathe again. It was particularly concerning that when she fell asleep, she was so congested that she was forgetting to breathe. We spent a week in hospital, and it was so difficult being away from my son, who was at home, who couldn't understand why we weren't home with him. RSV deteriorates babies quite quickly, and the vaccine rollout brings us good hope that there will be future babies that won't need to be hospitalised as often.
 
JOURNALIST: How terrifying was that for you? Obviously, you have a lot of things to prepare for with a newborn baby. This one was on the last thing on your list that you had to contend with, what was going through your head and your family's head?
 
TINGEY: It was absolutely terrifying. It was one of the happiest times of our life, her being born, and then for us to have to take her to the hospital and seeing how quickly she deteriorated. One minute she was happy, and then the next minute she was struggling to breathe, being rushed away on oxygen. We were fortunate that she didn't need to go to ICU. But when we were in the hospital, the ward was full of babies that had just come from ICU. She then developed bronchiolitis from her RSV, which put us in hospital longer, and now that she's older, she's eight months old now, she's still recovering from RSV. It hit her quite badly that everything that she drinks has to be thickened because she's developed a floppy airway, and she's still got a lingering cough and a lingering snotty nose.
 
JOURNALIST: Just to reiterate to other mums out there who may be considering taking up this vaccine, what would you say? Obviously, hearing what you went through was quite horrendous. You'd be quite keen for other mothers to take on these vaccines so they don't have to go through something like that?
 
TINGEY: Most definitely. If I could have got her vaccinated to prevent, or even just to prevent the severity of it, then I most definitely would have.
 
JOURNALIST: Now it is free for mums do you think that's more incentive for them to go get it, especially during a cost-of-living crisis?
 
TINGEY: Yeah, most definitely.
 
JOURNALIST: Did you know much about RSV prior to Winter having it, or was it signs that you saw that you thought, okay, something is seriously wrong here, we need to take her in?
 
TINGEY: Being a second time mum, and also a nurse, I had heard about it before, but I didn't understand how serious it could be. I thought it was just a simple cold. I learned pretty quickly that it wasn't. As a mum, you hear about RSV and you know to watch out what a baby catches but I don't think you actually realise the effects that it can have until it happens to you or someone that you know.
 
JOURNALIST: And those effects seem long lasting? You said Winter's now eight months old and still having to contend with different food options?
 
TINGEY: Yeah, most definitely long lasting. She still has everything thickened otherwise she chokes and she seems to catch a lot more bugs, a lot easier.
 
ANNE HARRIS, PFIZER AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND MANAGAING DIRECTOR: This is the first immunization program for mothers to protect their baby from first breath to six months and its going to be an absolute game changer, not only for the babies and their families, but also for our health system. Pfizer is incredibly proud to be able to be in partnership with the government on this program, because it has been a research program for many, many years. Australia now joins other countries in instituting a maternal vaccine. It is a year-round vaccine, and a year-round program. I would like to acknowledge the Minister and the Immunisation Branch for their tireless work to ensure that this program could be stood up now in time to protect Australian babies for the winter season. I would also like to recognise Professor Helen Marshall and, of course, Deanne and Winter for coming here and explaining how important it is that this program that is now widely available to eligible pregnant women can be capitalised on, and that protection can be maximized. We're very pleased to be able to bring this innovation to Australia. And again, would like to thank everyone for all of their work, government, clinicians, and parents in establishing this program.
 
JOURNALIST: Is the government considering offering the RSV vaccine to babies who have already been born whose mothers weren't able to access the immunisation?
 
BUTLER: This vaccine is for pregnant mums, particularly between 28 and 36 weeks of pregnancy, so at about the same time they'll be offered and recommended to take the whooping cough vaccine, which is also important to provide whooping cough antibodies to their foetus, so they are protected after birth. For those mums who don't take up this program, though, when the baby is born, there is another vaccine that is available, which all state governments will be rolling out to newborns whose mums have not taken this maternal vaccine that is also highly effective in protecting babies for the first five or six months of their life. As Professor Marshall said, that crucial period, and that treatment, which is Beyfortus, is also going to be available from state governments free of charge. Here in South Australia that will be available, as I understand it, Minister Picton had said, from the 1st of April. So newborns who are born after the 1st of April, whose mums have not taken this maternal vaccine will be administered, obviously with their parents consent. That's why I say this is the most comprehensive program anywhere in the world. It really is a belt and braces approach to ensure that almost every single newborn baby has antibodies to protect them against this highly debilitating illness, also relieving enormous pressure on our paediatric hospitals.

JOURNALIST: From a national point of view is that going to extend into any other states?

BUTLER: Every state is taking that up. There's slightly different dates that different states and territories are undertaking. As Professor Marshall said, this is largely a seasonal virus. So, in the Top End, where they don't have the same summer, winter tempo that we have in the south, there are slightly different dates. But we've worked very closely as a Commonwealth for the state governments to coordinate the purchase of enough supply of Beyfortus to ensure those newborn babies whose mothers have not taken the maternal vaccine have this backup protection available to them. So, every state, every territory, in the coming winter, will be able to provide that treatment to newborns. We're really hopeful that as many mothers as possible will take up this vaccine option. About 80 per cent of pregnant mums in their third trimester take up the whooping cough vaccine and that has been incredibly effective in protecting newborn babies from whooping cough vaccine, which is also a highly debilitating, dangerous disease for newborn babies. We hope that about the same number of pregnant mums will take up the maternal vaccine option.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister is South Australia the first to roll this out? Or do you say it's going to be rolled out across all states when it comes to winter?
 
BUTLER: It's been rolled out across all state and territories. This is a truly national program. We're providing a maternal vaccine completely free of charge to pregnant mums between 28 and 36 weeks of pregnancy. It will be available at your local GP or at your local pharmacy in most jurisdictions. It’s highly convenient, highly effective protection, completely free of charge, instead of paying about $300 which would have been the charge if this were not listed by the Albanese Government.
 
JOURNALIST: Will the vaccine be readily available, or is a phased rollout expected?
 
BUTLER: We've been working really close with Pfizer, which has been terrific, working with our officials to ensure, as Anne said, this is stood up for the winter 2025 season. I'm announcing this now because the vaccine will be widely available through general practice and through pharmacies from the 3rd of February. So pregnant mums who are approaching that third trimester, should now think about organising appointments to go and see your GP or your community pharmacy to receive this vaccine. As I said, often the most convenient way will be to get this at about the same time you get the whooping cough vaccine, maybe the influenza vaccine as well, all of these maternal vaccines, as Professor Marshall said, ensure that antibodies are passed through to your foetus, so that when the baby is born, they're fully protected through antibodies against this highly debilitating disease.
 
JOURNALIST: How long has this rollout taken to come to life? Obviously, this is something Mothers have been asking for, for a while. Was this a really long process or was it a priority for you guys?
 
BUTLER: As Anne Harris said, this has been a work by Pfizer and other companies and researchers around the world. They have been working so hard over recent years to find an answer to this leading cause of hospitalisation, not just here in Australia, but around the world, of our precious newborn babies. So full credit to Pfizer for bringing this product to market in Australia. It was recommended, I think, in the early part of last winter by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, so not in time for us to provide this protection for winter last year. But the company and our officials in the Department of Health have worked really hard to ensure that it will be available free of charge to pregnant mums in time to protect their babies for the coming winter. We've done that really hard work with Pfizer. We've worked with state and territory governments to ensure there is this backup program of treatment for newborns whose mums haven't taken advantage of the maternal vaccine, and with that, we will have, in the coming winter, the most comprehensive protection program for our babies in the world against RSV.
 
JOURNALIST: On another topic, Peter Dutton is expected to announce tax relief for small businesses today. Do you think that will help sway the votes of small businesses?
 
BUTLER: I think we all want to see the detail of that, including how Mr Dutton proposes to pay for it, given he and his Shadow Treasurer are saying they'll be cutting a whole range of other important programs, like Urgent Care Clinics and things like that. But I have to say our priority as a government is on strengthening Medicare, making medicines cheaper, rolling out programs like this rather than tax breaks for long lunches.
 
JOURNALIST: A couple of questions on private health insurance. You've again ordered private health insurers to go back to the drawing board and come up with a more reasonable premium increase. Have you heard back from them?
 
BUTLER: My overarching priority is to make sure I get value for health insurance members. Obviously, we need to make sure that the industry is viable, underpinning the important private hospital industry and other parts of the health system. But what I really want to make sure of is that consumers or health insurance members get the best possible value. I've already gone back to every single of the 29 private health insurance companies, I did that just before Christmas, to ask them to sharpen their pencil. I've done that. They provided those submissions again on the 2nd of January. But for a number of them, not all of them, I've had to go back and say, look, this doesn't provide value for your members. I want you to try again. I haven't yet got advice about those resubmissions. I expect to get that very soon, because I recognise that I need to make this decision as soon as practical. But again, the overarching priority is to make sure I get the decision right for the millions of Australia to put their hard-earned money into the private health insurance industry.

JOURNALIST: This is playing out ahead of an election where households are struggling with cost-of-living issues. Are you concerned any rise above inflation will hurt Labor's prospects of a re-election?

BUTLER: I'm going to make the right decision in the interests of private health insurance members. Yes, there's an election this year, but every year, the Health Minister has to make a decision in the interests of private health insurance members, also ensuring that the industry is viable and able to continue to fund important parts of our healthcare system. I'm going to make sure I do that, as I would any other year.

JOURNALIST: And just a last question, there's concerns the mass resignation of psychiatrists in New South Wales will impact the public health system more broadly. How concerned are you about the disruption this would cause, and have you been involved in any talks with New South Wales about it?

BUTLER: I've said before that the possibility or threat of mass resignation of public system psychiatrists in New South Wales would have devastating consequences for patients and for families in that system. I've also said I have the highest regard and the highest respect for psychiatrists who work in the public system. It is some of the hardest, most demanding work we have in our mental health system across the country. They do it for salaries that are usually significantly lower than what they could earn in the private system. I have the biggest respect for them, but I've also urged both parties, the workforce, the public psychiatrist themselves and the state government to leave no stone unturned to resolve this negotiation in the interests of the very, very many members of the public who depend upon a viable, vibrant, thriving public mental health system in New South Wales.