The United States of America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for use in women during pregnancy to protect the baby.
- This vaccine has been developed by Pfizer and the approval allows the vaccine to be given to women 32 to 36 weeks into pregnancy for prevention of lower respiratory tract infection and severe disease in infants until they are six months old.
- The vaccine developer has said that maternal vaccination could prevent a large number of hospitalizations due to RSV.
- People suffering from this illness are affected with infections of the lungs and respiratory tract.
- It is highly commong among children and elderly. It also leads to large number of hospitalisation. It typically hits hardest during the winter months. The last RSV season was longer and more severe than usual, overwhelming children’s hospitals.
