A new vaccine may protect infants and the elderly from bronchiolitis Science and health

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer has announced that it intends to submit an application to the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) in the coming weeks for approval of a new vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the main cause of bronchiolitis. The vaccine is intended for pregnant women (to protect newborns who inherit the mother’s antibodies) as well as for the elderly. The vaccine has already been approved in the United States and the European Union.

Abysvo Vaccine is indicated for pregnant women between 32 and 36 weeks of gestation to provoke an immune response against lower respiratory tract infections caused by RSV virus in newborns and infants up to six months of age – the main risk group for severe forms of the virus infection. Elderly people over 60 years of age are also more likely to develop acute respiratory disease.

Bronchiolitis is an acute inflammation of the peripheral bronchioles. Any fine branches that deliver air to the lungs. Respiratory syncytial virus is primarily responsible for cases of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children and the elderly.

The disease is the leading cause of hospitalization for children up to the age of four in Brazil. The rate of infection with the virus increases in the cold months, fall and winter, but it spreads throughout the year. RSV is transmitted through the air, through saliva particles.

Anvisa’s application for approval is based on the results of international clinical studies that demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine in protecting children and the elderly. The third phase study included the participation of more than seven thousand pregnant women in 18 research centers around the world, four of which were in Brazil.

The study revealed that the vaccine was able to prevent acute respiratory diseases in 82% of children under the age of three months, and in 69% of children under the age of six months. In the elderly, the protection rate from severe cases reaches 85.7%.

“This is the first and only vaccination available to protect newborns immediately after birth and up to six months of age against RSV,” said Adriana Ribeiro, medical director for Pfizer in Brazil.

“The virus is the main cause of bronchiolitis, an infection that can lead to serious outcomes, especially for children under six months of age,” said Adriana Ribeiro, medical director of Pfizer in Brazil.

Currently, in Brazil, there is no vaccine to prevent RSV. Overseas, another vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline has already been approved, but only for the elderly.

The Brazilian Pediatric Society and the Brazilian Vaccination Society recommend palivizumab (five injections during peak months) for infants and children. However, the government provides free medicine only to premature babies.

The latest edition of the InfoGripe Epidemiological Bulletin released by Fiocruz last Thursday, 24, shows an increase in new cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Espiritu Santo, Roraima and São Paulo in children aged 2 to 14 years. A fifth of these cases are caused by RSV.

“The search for this vaccine is old, not a fad,” explained pediatrician and infectious disease specialist Ana Paula Burian, president of the Brazilian Association of Vaccines, in Espírito Santo. “The problem is that so far no one has been able to achieve something successful.” “The strategy of vaccinating pregnant women is also old, and we do this against other diseases, such as influenza, whooping cough, tetanus and hepatitis A.”