CDC panel recommends Pfizer maternal RSV vaccine to protect babies

An independent panel of independent advisers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention backed Pfizer’s respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, vaccine for pregnant women to confer immunity to newborns on Friday.

The panel recommended that pregnant women between 32 and 36 weeks gestation during cold and flu season take the RSV vaccine that was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for adults over the age of 60.

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In July, the FDA also approved an RSV vaccine for infants and toddlers over eight months old, which was recommended by CDC Director Mandy Cohen in August.

RSV causes mild symptoms in most people with healthy immune systems, but elderly adults and children under the age of 3 are at greater risk.

RSV kills upwards of 6,000 and hospitalizes over 60,000 older adults per year, according to the CDC.

Over 2 million children under the age of 5 are treated outside of the hospital for RSV annually, and up to 80,000 children less than 5 are hospitalized. Between 100 and 300 child deaths yearly are attributable to RSV.

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Pfizer’s chief medical officer for vaccines told CNBC that the pharmaceutical giant is prepared “for the first time in history” to provide an RSV vaccine to both populations most at risk for developing severe disease.

Cohen will need to issue the final approval of the panel’s recommendation before the vaccine can be administered to mothers.