Vaccine for virus that kills thousands annually expected to be in county by month's end

Dave McMillion, The Herald-Mail
·3 min read
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Many people don't know about respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

And in many ways, that makes sense.

It largely goes unnoticed because in most cases, it results in a common cold, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But Anand Budi, a longtime pediatrician and chief medical officer for Meritus Health, is seeing worrisome trends with the virus.

Budi said he's diagnosing more cases of RSV locally, and people are getting sicker from it, and their hospitalizations to treat it are getting longer.

Now he said last week that the health care profession is starting to breathe a sigh of relief since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved the first vaccine for RSV.

How long has the virus been around?

Nurse Penny Wink, a Meritus Health and Washington County Public Schools contractor, gives Clear Spring Middle School special education connections teacher Julie Keesecker her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at Meritus Health's Robinwood Professional Center in late January.
Nurse Penny Wink, a Meritus Health and Washington County Public Schools contractor, gives Clear Spring Middle School special education connections teacher Julie Keesecker her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at Meritus Health's Robinwood Professional Center in late January.

It's been a long time coming because the virus was first discovered in 1956. Hope for a vaccine started to ramp up in the 1980s when a greater understanding of the virus began to unfold. Last year, excitement began to build over a possible vaccine when six drug companies reported they were working on RSV vaccines or antibodies, according to Budi and other health professionals.

The vaccine approved by the FDA on Wednesday is Arexvy, which will be used to protect adults 60 years old and up, one of two segments of the population most susceptible to the virus. The other population is infants and younger children.

Outbreaks of respiratory illnesses caused by RSV typically start in the fall and peak in the winter, although the timing and severity of them can vary, according to the CDC.

In older adults, RSV causes more than 177,000 hospitalizations a year and approximately 14,000 deaths.

When will the vaccine arrive in Washington County?

Budi said he expects the first shipments of the Arexvy vaccine to arrive in Washington County pharmacies and physician's offices later this month.

He said a vaccine for children is still being developed, a process that is often "secretly guarded."

There is not a concern about developing a vaccination for middle-aged people because health care professionals believe that targeting the two most susceptible populations will be the most effective way to control the virus, Budi said.

The need for a childhood RSV vaccine is illustrated by the large numbers of kids becoming ill from the virus.

Recently, there have been waiting lists up to "70 kids at a time" to get children proper treatment in hospitals, Budi said. And last October and November, Meritus Medical Center near Hagerstown was transferring infected children to hospitals in cities like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Morgantown, W.Va., because it was running out of the facilities it needed.

"It's starting to become a lot more of a problem in the last decade," Budi said.

What could be coming to help treat RSV?

Other RSV vaccines and treatments under review by regulatory agencies include:

  • Sanofi’s monoclonal antibody for infants and toddlers: A monoclonal antibody from Sanofi and AstraZeneca,called nirsevimab, helps prevent RSV lower respiratory tract disease in newborns and infants entering or during their first RSV season. If approved, it would be the second monoclonal antibody on the market for infants.

  • Pfizer’s RSV vaccine for pregnant people: The FDA said it has agreed to review Pfizer’s vaccine candidate, RSVpreF, for approval and set an action date for August. If approved, the vaccine would be for pregnant people to help protect against RSV severe disease in infants from birth through 6 months.

  • Pfizer's vaccine for older adults: This vaccine candidate is under the same name as the maternal vaccine, RSVpreF. Pfizer data found its vaccine was more than 85% effective at preventing RSV-associated lower respiratory tract illness in older adults.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Meritus doctor expects RSV vaccine in Hagerstown by end of month