Current guidelines recommend that pregnant people receive a vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)—which typically causes mild, cold-like symptoms in most adults but can be deadly for infants—during weeks 32–36 of pregnancy. New research led by investigators at Mass General Brigham suggests that vaccination earlier in that timeframe, closer to 32 weeks, could provide the best protection for newborns against RSV. The findings are published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Vijay K. Kuchroo, PhD, DVM, of the Gene Lay Institute of Immunology and Inflammation of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is the co-corresponding author of a paper published in Nature, “Neuropeptide signaling orchestrates T cell differentiation.”