When Conaill McGrath was six weeks old, he was sleepier than he had been in previous days, had a slight sniffle and was beginning to snore.
But it was not until his mother Aoife was getting him ready for bed that she became really concerned about his breathing.
“I decided he was just too small to take any risks,” she said.
Ms McGrath decided to bring Conaill to the emergency department of Temple Street children’s hospital in Dublin.
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This was December 2021, and Ms McGrath was hoping her son had not contracted Covid-19. Instead, doctors told her he had respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), an infection that can be deadly in young babies and children and puts significant pressure on the hospital system.
“[The doctors] said he was really struggling and they weren’t happy with how he was breathing and that my baby was really sick. I hadn’t even thought of RSV, I was just like ‘God, don’t be Covid’,” she said.
“He was put on oxygen. They put a tube into his nose for feeding. He was in a cot he had never slept in, with a heart monitor, on oxygen and a tube up his nose. It was terrifying because he was tiny.”
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Conaill spent six days in the hospital before returning home. That Christmas, however, his breathing deteriorated once again.
“He spent his first Stephen’s Day and Stephen’s night in A&E. Thankfully we didn’t need to stay this time,” Ms McGrath said.
Conaill managed to bounce back to his usual self, but on his first birthday, in October 2022, his breathing again changed.
His parents brought him to hospital, flagging to staff that he was in respiratory distress. But they were almost reassured this time, thinking it would not be as bad as he was a bit older and “more sturdy”.
His oxygen levels were very low, his heart rate was fast and he had a temperature, creating concern among the treating clinicians. He was transferred to Tallaght University Hospital via ambulance due to capacity constraints at Temple Street.
“They brought him for chest X-rays and it turned out he had developed pneumonia second to the RSV,” Ms McGrath said.
Conaill had to stay in hospital for nine days.
“During it all I was very good at compartmentalising,” Ms McGrath added. “I needed to be strong. I was totally fine during it. The day we were allowed to go home, that‘s when all the emotions came. It was so terrifying.”
This year, the Health Service Executive is offering free RSV vaccines to babies born between March 1st and August 31st. It ran a catch-up programme in September and early October, during which time there was a national uptake rate of 45.5 per cent.
The programme targeting newborn babies has so far achieved a cumulative uptake of 89 per cent since it commenced on September 1st.
The newborn programme last year resulted in a 65 per cent reduction in case numbers, a 57 per cent reduction in emergency department presentations and a 76 per cent decline in babies needing hospitalisation, the HSE said.
It last week announced a second window for parents of eligible children to register for the jab, with clinics beginning today and continuing until December 12th.
Dr Augustine Pereira, director of public health with the HSE National Health Protection Office, said the vaccine is “the safest and most effective way to protect your baby this winter”.
“We know this works and ensures small babies are protected from RSV. Paediatricians have called this new immunisation a ‘game changer’,” she added.
Ms McGrath said she understands that some people might be hesitant about vaccines, particularly following the Covid pandemic, but that RSV is a dangerous infection.
“Having had a child who was in hospital three times with it within the first year of his life and was very, very unwell with it on two of those occasions, if you see your baby that vulnerable and that sick ... you want to protect them from that,” she said.
“I could be telling a very different story. If I hadn’t brought Conaill to hospital, I dread to think what the outcome could have been.”
