MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research

The MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research is delighted to announce that Professor Antonia Ho and Dr Louisa Pollock have just secured funding from Pfizer for a new study that could change how we protect babies from serious respiratory illness. 

The BORLAND (Benefits Of RSV Maternal vaccination Using A Scottish National Dataset) project will track the real-world effectiveness of RSV vaccines given to pregnant women across Scotland. The grant also allows us to welcome Dr Louisa Pollock to the CVR community alongside her role as an NHS paediatrician. Dr Pollock’s expertise in vaccine effectiveness research and population health surveillance will significantly strengthen the CVR’s capacity.  

If you're a parent, you've probably heard of RSV – Respiratory Syncytial Virus. It's one of those infections that sounds innocuous but can be genuinely frightening for families with young babies. Nearly every child has an RSV infection by their second birthday, but for infants, especially those under six months, it can mean serious breathing problems and hospital stays. 

In Scotland, around 900 babies under six months end up in hospital with RSV each year. That's roughly 15 out of every 1,000 babies born. 

Last August, Scotland started offering RSV vaccines to pregnant women, following the idea that mothers can pass protective antibodies to their babies before birth. The uptake has been encouraging, with just over  half of eligible women choosing vaccination by May 2025. 

But here's the thing about vaccines: proving they work in clinical trials is one thing, but showing they work in the real world is another challenge entirely. Results of an evaluation by Public Health Scotland (PHS) of the first winter season after vaccine was launched were encouraging. This showed that babies whose mums were vaccinated in pregnancy were 80% less likely to be admitted to hospital with RSV in their first three months of life, compared to babies whose mums were not vaccinated. PHS estimated that over 200 fewer babies were admitted to hospital in Scotland last winter due to protection from the vaccine.  

This early data is good news for babies and families, but we need to study the impact of the vaccine in more detail over time to see how well babies are protected beyond the first three months, and to make sure all babies are protected equally. The BORLAND  project will build on the early work of PHS and involve analysis of a whole population birth cohort, which is the gold standard for vaccine effectiveness studies.  

What makes this study possible is something uniquely Scottish – our health records. Every person living here has a Community Health Index number that links all their health information together. Birth records, hospital admissions, vaccination data – it's all connected. This means that Professor Ho and Dr Pollock can follow around 66,000 mother-baby pairs over 18 months, tracking who got vaccinated, when their babies were born, and whether those babies stayed healthy or needed hospital care. This will clearly illustrate how vaccination plays out across an entire population. 

The team isn't just looking at overall effectiveness. They want to understand how well the vaccine works for different groups, including premature babies, those born to mothers vaccinated at different stages of pregnancy, and families from different backgrounds. These details are important for doctors making recommendations and parents making decisions. 

This study will give parents, doctors, and policymakers the evidence they need to make the best choices for protecting babies. In a few years' time, the BORLAND study could well influence how we approach RSV prevention across the UK and beyond. 

This project shows CVR's commitment to translating cutting-edge science into practical health benefits for communities across Scotland and beyond. 

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First published: 14 August 2025