The U.S. infant mortality rate declined in 2024 after remaining steady during the waning years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some health experts attribute this improvement, at least in part, to the new vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which became widely available for prevention of severe RSV among infants and young children during the 2024–2025 respiratory virus season. Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows the national infant mortality rate dropped to 5.49 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024, down from 5.63 per 1,000 in each of the 2 preceding years. Overall, infant deaths in the U.S. decreased from approximately 20,150 in 2023 to about 19,900 in 2024.
Fewer hospitalizations too: A combined approach of vaccinating infants and pregnant mothers for RSV likely played a role in reducing infant deaths, according to an analysis from the Associated Press. Separately, another CDC report last week echoed this idea, finding RSV hospitalization rates during the 2024–2025 season were 45-52% lower in infants younger than 3 months old and 28-43% lower in infants younger than 8 months old compared to the 2018-2020 seasons.