CDC panel recommends Pfizer, GSK shots for adults over 60

An advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday really helpful that adults ages 60 and above, after consulting their doctors, receive a single dose of RSV vaccines from Pfizer and GSK.

The panel said seniors should use “shared clinical decision-making,” which involves working with their healthcare provider to determine how much they are going to profit from a shot.

Outgoing CDC director Rochelle Walensky will resolve whether to finalize the suggestion.

The panel’s decision moves the U.S. one step closer to creating jabs against respiratory syncytial virus available to the general public this fall, when the disease typically begins to spread at higher levels.

The suggestion also comes weeks after the Food and Drug Administration approved each vaccines, making them the world’s first authorized shots against RSV. 

The virus is a typical respiratory infection that sometimes causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but more severe cases in older adults and kids. Every year, RSV kills 6,000 to 10,000 seniors and a couple of hundred children younger than 5, based on the CDC. 

Pfizer and GSK on Wednesday each presented latest clinical trial data to the panel, which provided a primary glimpse of their shots’ durability after one RSV season. The season typically lasts from October to March within the Northern Hemisphere. 

A single dose of Pfizer’s shot was 78.6% effective in stopping lower respiratory tract disease with three or more symptoms through the center of a second RSV season, based on latest clinical trial results presented Wednesday. That is down from greater than 85% at the tip of the primary season in older adults. 

Pfizer said that efficacy fell to 48.9% at “mid-season two” for less severe types of the disease in that age group, down from about 66%.

One dose of GSK’s shot was 78.8% effective against severe RSV disease after two seasons, compared with 94% after one season, the corporate said Wednesday. Severe disease refers to cases that prevent normal, day by day activities.

For less severe RSV disease, efficacy declined to 67.2% over two seasons from 82% after one season.

Dr. Michael Melgar, a CDC medical officer who evaluated data on each shots, noted during a public meeting that each Pfizer and GSK still lack efficacy data on subgroups of the elderly population at the very best risk of severe RSV. 

Melgar said adults ages 75 and older and people with an underlying medical condition are underrepresented within the phase three clinical trials from each corporations. Seniors with a weak immune system were excluded from the trials altogether, he said. 

Each corporations said studies on those populations are ongoing. 

It’s still unclear how much the shots will cost. GSK said it’ll price its vaccine between $200 and $295. Pfizer said it’ll price its shot between $180 to $270.

The businesses declined to ensure the pricing.

The shots would help the U.S. combat the upcoming RSV season in the autumn after an unusually severe RSV season last 12 months. 

Cases of the virus in children and older adults overwhelmed hospitals across the country, largely because the general public stopped practicing Covid pandemic health measures that had helped keep the spread of RSV low.