FDA Approves the First RSV Vaccine for Pregnant Women

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today (Aug. 21) approved the first vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) for pregnant women, which is designed to protect newborns from the infection. The shot becomes the second RSV vaccine, and third new intervention against the disease this year. In May, the FDA approved the Abrysvo vaccine for preventing RSV in people 60 years and older. The same vaccine is now approved for pregnant people in their third trimester. And in July, the agency approved nirsevimab, an antibody-based injection that protects babies immediately after birth from RSV. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The new interventions have been a long time coming in RSV treatment, which in the U.S. sends 58,000 to 80,000 children under age five to the hospital each year and kills 100 to 300 annually. Pfizer, which makes Abrysvo for both older people and now those who are pregnant, has been developing the shot since the 2010s, after scientists at the National Institutes of Health discovered just the right form of RSV to capture in the vaccine and present to the immune system. In a study reviewed by the FDA involving pregnant women in 18 countries, the vaccine was 81.8% effective in preventing severe respiratory illness needing medical attention in babies in the first 90 days after birth. Read More: Why It Took So Long to Finally Get An RSV Vaccine Vaccinating mothers to protect infants Preventing infection is critical to protecting the ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Vaccines Source Type: news