Vaccine vs Respiratory Syncytial Virus May Be Okayed This Year

Although usually mild, the respiratory syncytial virus can be fatal among babies and older people. Promising results from trials during pregnancy and in those aged 60 or over suggest that a vaccine may soon be approved, Michael Le Page reported for the New Scientist.

Photo Insert: RSV infects us all during our life. In most people, it causes cold-like symptoms, but among the more vulnerable, such as babies and older people, it can be deadly.

The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but can be severe in vulnerable people. The virus is a major killer of very young and very old people, but we are almost certainly at a turning point in the battle to prevent it being so lethal.

On Jan. 17, Moderna reported promising results from a vaccine trial among older adults, the latest of four such trials by various pharmaceutical companies to announce highly encouraging outcomes.

This may mean that 2023 is the year that the first RSV vaccine is approved anywhere in the world. What’s more, a long-lasting antibody treatment that prevents otherwise healthy babies from catching RSV was approved in the European Union and the UK in 2022.

If these preventive measures live up to their promise, they could together save tens of thousands of lives.

RSV infects us all during our life. In most people, it causes cold-like symptoms, but among the more vulnerable, such as babies and older people, it can be deadly.

Around 100,000 children, most of whom are very young, die from RSV every year worldwide, says Harish Nair at the University of Edinburgh, UK. Of these deaths, 97 percent occur in low or middle-income countries, he says.

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