The United States of America has approved the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine, making it the first country in the world to do so. RSV is a respiratory virus that typically causes mild cold-like symptoms, but can be severe, especially for young children and elderly individuals. The virus can lead to pneumonia and bronchiolitis, which is an infection of the lungs’ tiny airways.
RSV is responsible for causing 60,000 to 120,000 hospitalizations and 6,000 to 10,000 fatalities in people aged 65 and over, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The illness has become more widely recognized in recent years, in part due to the strain it has put on hospital infrastructure over the last two winters.
On Wednesday, Peter Marks, a top official with the US Food and Drug Administration, made a statement in which he announced the approval of the first RSV vaccine. “Today’s (Wednesday) approval of the first RSV vaccine is an important public health achievement to prevent a disease which can be life-threatening,” he said.