Lexington health officials say new RSV vaccines could make a big difference this cold and flu season – Fox 56 News

LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) Last year, hospitals saw a surge in the number of children with RSV, also known as respiratory syncytial virus. Lexington health officials say the new vaccines could have a big impact on the upcoming cold-weather virus season. For children, elderly adults, and infants, it can be a difficult time of year.

Professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at the College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Dr. Ilhem Messaoudi, said, Weve known for a long time that RSV can impact really young children and older adults and cause severe disease, especially in premature infants. But for decades, we did not have a vaccine that was efficacious against RSV.

In July and September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended two new RSV vaccinations for adults ages 60 and older and for women 32 to 36 weeks pregnant, to protect their babies. In August, the CDC also recommended Nirsevimab; an antibody as a vaccine to prevent severe RSV in babies and toddlers.

Its an exciting time to have not one but two vaccines, especially after the last year that we had where we saw record numbers of children present to the emergency departments really sick, said Dr. Massoudi. The monoclonal antibody is equally exciting because its approved for really young infants between zero and six months of age and can be used up to infants that are under two years of age.

Massoudi agreed that the new RSV vaccines could make a huge impact this cold and flu season.

I saw numbers released by the CDC recently and flu, COVID, and RSV account for about 40% of all respiratory illness in this country that we measure. So thats a big chunk of it and I think having these vaccines is going to make a really big difference for those populations that are most at risk, Massoudi said.

Massoudi said the new vaccines are widely available but there is a shortage of the ones used to protect toddlers and babies.

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Lexington health officials say new RSV vaccines could make a big difference this cold and flu season - Fox 56 News