Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) puts more babies in the hospital than any other cause. Each year RSV hospitalizes 58,000-80,000 American children under 5 years old. For most of human history, there was very little parents could to protect their child from this disease. Two years ago, the first ever medicines to prevent RSV in children were approved, giving parents two preventive medication options:
1) Pfizer’s Abrysvo, is a vaccine administered to pregnant individuals when in their third trimester. The maternal antibodies produced by the vaccine are passed to the fetus in the womb, protecting the baby during their fragile first few months post-birth.
2) A non-vaccine option known as a monoclonal antibody. This monoclonal antibody called nirsevimab is given to infants younger than 8 months old.
In the Fall/Winter 2024-2025, the first RSV season in which the medications were widely available, both options were show to be highly effective at lowering the risk of hospitalization from infection. A study from the CDC found that infant hospitalization rates from RSV were 28% to 43% lower in 2024-25. A second study, published in the scientific journal Pediatrics found that 72% of babies were protected from RSV by either nirsevimab or Abrysvo.
Full Story: CIDRAP, The Guardian, Ars Technica
