The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved two new immunisation options to shield infants from Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), a major cause of respiratory illness in children.
The first is a maternal vaccine given to pregnant women in their third trimester to protect newborns at birth. The second is a long-acting antibody injection for infants, which starts working within a week and provides protection for at least five months.
WHO emphasized that RSV remains the leading cause of acute lower respiratory infections in children worldwide.
It causes around 100,000 deaths and 3.6 million hospitalisations each year among children under the age of five, while infants under six months are most at risk.
Alarmingly, 97 per cent of these deaths occur in low and middle-income countries, according to WHO.
Although RSV can infect people of all ages, “it is especially harmful to infants, particularly those born prematurely,” a WHO official, Kate O’Brien, said.
O’Brien added that around half of all RSV-related deaths occurred in babies younger than six months.
Considering the global burden of severe RSV illness in infants, WHO recommended that all countries adopt either the maternal vaccine or the antibody injection as part of their national immunisation strategies.
“These RSV immunisation products can transform the fight against severe RSV disease, dramatically reduce hospitalisations and deaths, and ultimately save many infant lives worldwide,” O’Brien said.
