New RSV vaccines pending approval from FDA

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - Some potentially exciting news coming from health leaders: Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline have created a vaccine for RSV, which is awaiting approval from the FDA.

Roughly six decades after the first attempt to develop an RSV vaccine, an independent advisory committee is seeking approval from the FDA for two different RSV shots. This comes after an especially rough RSV season.

“When COVID had died down, we had a rebound very bad season coming out,” said Dr. Michael Kilkenny at the Cabell-Huntington Health Department. He has been following the developments of the vaccines closely.

“The FDA has already received an advisory committee recommendation for approval for the 60 and older group,” Kilkenny said.

After the evaluation of the vaccine for those 60 and older, the FDA will evaluate an RSV vaccine geared toward babies.

“Recently released data about clinical trials immunizing pregnant women late in their pregnancies in order to get the antibodies to protect the baby appears to be promising,” Kilkenny said.

Each year, health experts prepare for the pediatric intensive care units to be bombarded with cases of RSV. If approved, this vaccine could provide some security.

“Families are going to be very affected by these severe illnesses every year, so anything we can do to help that, since it looks like we may have a vaccine that could help two populations with that within a couple of years, that’s exciting news,” Kilkenny said.

The vaccines have not been approved yet. They are waiting for the trial to make sure it’s effective and safe.

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