According to preliminary findings from two company-funded trials, a Pfizer respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine protected newborns and older adults from sickness caused by this virus.
The vaccination was administered during late-stage pregnancy in one trial, the results of which were published on April 5 in The New England Journal of Medicine. According to the findings, the vaccine proved beneficial against severe RSV-associated lower respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia and bronchiolitis in infants aged six months and up.
Pfizer RSV Vaccine
Dr. Edward Walsh, an infectious disease specialist at UR Medicine, and his research team have been instrumental in the development of Pfizer’s bivalent RSV vaccine, which combines proteins from two major RSV strains for a more strong immune response.
Since 2020, vaccine studies involving newborns and persons over the age of 60 have been done. The vaccination is 66.7% effective at preventing general illness, 85.7% effective at preventing lower respiratory tract infection with three or more symptoms, and 62.1% effective at preventing acute respiratory infection, according to the findings.
The findings also revealed that the immunological response transferred from mother to child was around 70% efficient in preventing severe infection throughout the first three months of the baby’s life.
Although RSV is not a new virus, the impact it had on the healthcare system this season, after lying dormant throughout the COVID-19 epidemic, raised awareness of the condition.
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Protection For Elderly
In another company-funded experiment, the Pfizer RSV vaccination was 67% to 86% effective against RSV-associated lower respiratory tract infections such as acute bronchitis and pneumonia in persons 60 and older.
The researchers found no safety issues in this age group, and the rates of adverse events were comparable in both the vaccine recipients and the inactive placebo group.
According to the findings, three major adverse events in vaccine recipients were deemed to be related to the vaccine. The initial manifestation was a delayed allergic reaction. The other two were consistent with Miller-Fisher syndrome and Guillain-Barré syndrome, both rare nerve illnesses – at the time of publishing, the first patient had recovered and the second was still recovering.
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