Will Pfizer succeed in undertaking a vaccine for children against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)?
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes the deaths of approximately 102,000 children each year and this year, the pediatric wards in the United States are already saturated. To date, there is still no vaccine but the results obtained by Pfizer's candidate bode well
While Gsk's respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine candidate for over 60 's is making progress, Pfizer's for children also seems to be giving excellent results.
According to data released by the pharmaceutical company, in fact, the vaccine proved to be 81.8% effective against serious diseases of the lower respiratory tract due to RSV in infants from birth to the first 90 days of life, with a high 69.4% efficacy demonstrated in the first six months of follow-up.
WHY A VACCINE AGAINST RSV
Respiratory syncytial virus is a leading cause of hospitalization for infants and young children because it can cause an acute lower respiratory tract infection and the development of bronchiolitis or pneumonia.
But also for adults, and the elderly in particular, it can represent a danger by causing severe respiratory manifestations especially in those who have a depressed or weakened immune system due to an illness or medical treatment.
Furthermore, infection does not render completely immune, therefore reinfection is common, although it is generally less severe. Outbreaks usually occur in the winter months and early spring.
PFIZER'S VACCINE CANDIDATE
Pfizer's vaccine candidate bodes well, for which an efficacy of 81.8% was observed against severe lower respiratory tract diseases due to RSV in infants from birth to the first 90 days of life, with an 69.4% efficacy for infants over the six-month follow-up period. The trial involved around 7,400 pregnant women from 18 different countries.
The vaccine was given to them and, if approved, would be the first in the world. Pfizer expects to submit the first authorization application by the end of 2022.
AVAILABLE CARE
To date, in fact, a vaccine for the syncytial virus is not yet available. As Fabio Midulla, president of the Italian Society of Infant Respiratory Diseases (Simri) said , there are "monoclonal antibodies for the prevention of infection aimed at children at greater risk of severe forms, such as premature babies" but "in the last season they have could only partially benefit from these drugs given the unexpectedly early circulation of the virus ".
Meanwhile, he added, "pending vaccines to be used in women in the third trimester of pregnancy, in September 2022 the EMA approved the use for all newborns of a new fast-acting monoclonal antibody , with a long duration of action and offering excellent protection ".
SOME DATA ON THE SINCITIAL RESPIRATORY VIRUS IN CHILDREN
Around the world, data reported by Pfizer state, RSV causes the death of approximately 102,000 children each year, of which half are infants under the age of 6 months and most in developing countries.
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that each year the syncytial virus causes about 2.1 million outpatient (non-hospital) visits among children under the age of 5; 58,000-80,000 hospital admissions among children under the age of 5 and 100-300 deaths in children under the age of 5.
IN THE UNITED STATES HOSPITALS ARE ALREADY SATURATED
And precisely in the United States the situation is already particularly tense. "This is our March 2020" children's hospitals denounce. The cause, the New York Times reads, is "a drastic and unusually early spike of this respiratory infection [which] is engulfing pediatric units across the United States, causing long waits for treatment and winter worries."
The Italian Society of Neonatology (Sin) and the Italian Society of Pediatrics (Sip) also confirm a substantial advance of the start period of the epidemic season both last year and this year and bring the example of the United Kingdom, where the rate RSV positivity increased by 3.9% in September alone, with the highest percentage in children under 5 years of age (8.2%).
THE CAUSES AND THE TRIPLENDEMY RISK
As Midulla explained, the absence of the virus during the winter of 2020-2021, due to pandemic restrictions "has created a group of children between 1 and 2 years of age without natural immunity to RSV" and for this reason, "now that there are more restrictions, in the next autumn winter they could become infected and suffer from severe respiratory forms ".
From twindemic , or a "twin epidemic" caused by the combination of Covid and seasonal flu, now we are talking about triplendemic precisely because of the sudden increase in Rsv cases.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/riuscira-pfizer-impresa-di-un-vaccino-contro-il-virus-respiratorio-sinciziale-rsv/ on Tue, 08 Nov 2022 10:24:49 +0000.