CDC recommends new Pfizer vaccine to protect newborns from RSV

Sept. 23 (UPI) -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended a new Pfizer vaccine to protect newborn babies from respiratory syncytial virus, commonly known as RSV.

The vaccine is administered in one dose to pregnant women during weeks 32 through 36 of pregnancy, the agency said Friday in a news release.

The advisory panel that made the recommendation approved it in an 11-1 vote. It was not immediately clear why one person had voted against the recommendation.

The Food and Drug Administration had approved the vaccine last month but it also required a approval from the CDC.

Pfizer's new bivalent RSVpreF vaccine will be sold under the trade name Abrysvo, the CDC said. It has been shown to reduce the risk of RSV hospitalization for babies by 57% in the first six months after birth.

The approval comes after the pharmaceutical giant made $100 billion in revenues in 2022 bolstered by its COVID-19 vaccine, despite the public health emergency.

"I encourage parents to talk to their doctors about how to protect their little ones against serious RSV illness, using either a vaccine given during pregnancy, or an RSV immunization given to your baby after birth," CDC Director Mandy Cohen said.

The RSVpreF vaccine is the first vaccine approved for pregnant women to protect newborn babies from RSV and comes after the CDC last month recommended one dose of nirsevimab for all infants younger than 8 months born during or entering their first RSV season.

At the time, the CDC also recommended one dose of nirsevimab for infants and children 8-19 months old who are at increased risk for severe RSV disease and entering their second RSV season.

That immunization has been shown to reduce the risk of both RSV-related hospitalizations and healthcare visits in infants by about 80%, according to the CDC.

"A different monoclonal antibody, palivizumab, is limited to children under 24 months of age with certain conditions that place them at high risk for severe RSV disease. It must be given once a month during RSV season," the CDC said in a previous statement.

This fall and winter virus season marks the first with CDC-recommended vaccines available for the three major respiratory viruses currently circulating: COVID-19, RSV and flu.