ACIP Recommends RSV Vaccination for Pregnant Women

Pfizer’s Abrysvo Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine was recommended by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. The recommendation is to administer the vaccine only during the RSV season of September through January in pregnant women at 32 to 36 weeks of gestation. Abrysvo was approved in August for use in pregnant women to prevent RSV in infants by the FDA.¹

The ACIP also approved the use of taxpayer dollars in the Vaccines for Children Fund (VFC) for Abrysvo so that the vaccine may be administered “free of charge” in many settings. The CDC is expected to accept the ACIP’s recommendation and add this vaccine to the adult schedule.

The ACIP also stated that generally, infants born to mothers who had been vaccinated for Abrysvo should not receive the newly recommended RSV monoclonal antibody nirsevimab, known as Beyfortus. This statement would seem to fly in the face of ACIP’s lack of concern in August regarding vaccine coadministration, which was justified by the committee noting that nirsevimab was a drug and not a vaccine.²

Yet Another Pricey RSV Intervention

One constant for the ACIP was their continued unhappiness with the price tag for  RSV interventions. The nirsevimab RSV monoclonal antibody costs $395-$495 per dose³ and Abrysvo RSV vaccine costs  $295 per dose. When questioned by the committee about pricing outside the U.S., Pfizer didn’t provide specifics and instead stated that a tiered pricing strategy based on estimated affordability is used. 

Notably, the vaccine and monoclonal antibody offer limited protection to infants from RSV - about six months.^{4 5 6}

RSV Vaccination Timing Hoped to Curtail Premature Births

Shifting the vaccination window to 32-36 weeks into a pregnancy is later than the clinical trial window considered by the FDA. Tables comparing outcomes for vaccines administered at 24-31 weeks vs. 32-36 weeks appeared to decrease preterm births. However, due to fewer study subjects, the data is likely to be underpowered and real-world results for premature births in RSV-vaccinated women could differ. Notably, this clinical trial data reflects outcomes for only healthy, low-risk pregnancies.

Clinical Trail Data and Adverse Vaccine Events to be Monitored

Vaccine safety monitoring for Abrysvo vaccine adverse events will be done through the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink, the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), and V-safe.

A higher rate of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a rare but serious neurological disorder that causes inflammation of the peripheral nerves,⁷ was reported among individuals who received the vaccine in clinical trials for Abrysvo. There was also a higher rate of atrial fibrillation, a serious heart disorder that may lead to complications such as stroke, heart attack, or heart failure,⁸ among vaccine recipients.⁹

In pregnant women clinical trials also revealed higher rates of preterm deliveries, as well as higher rates of pre-eclampsia, a complication of pregnancy with symptoms that include high blood pressure, swelling of the hands and feet, and protein in the urine and gestational hypertension, in women vaccinated with Abrysvo versus those not vaccinated.¹⁰

Conditions to be monitored include many neurologic, neuroinflammatory, and cardiac conditions such as GBS, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), multiple sclerosis, meningitis, transverse myelitis (TM), chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), atrial fibrillation, and supraventricular tachycardias (SVT).

Pregnancy Vaccination Recommendations Increase as Flu Season is Rebranded

Abrysvo is the fourth vaccine to be recommended for use by the ACIP. Adverse event reports submitted for Abrysvo could also potentially be in connection with the coadministration of COVID-19, influenza, and TdaP vaccines.¹¹

As seasonal COVID-19, influenza, and RSV vaccines are rolled out, what has previously been marketed as flu season has been rebranded as respiratory season to harmonize the push for the uptake of these seasonal vaccines.¹²

Vaccine Injury Compensation and RSV

The ACIP’s recommendation of Abrysvo RSV vaccine for pregnant women is one of the steps required before the vaccine is covered by the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).¹³

Last month, the ACIP approved the drug nirsevimab, as if it were a vaccine and it too may eventually be covered by the VICP.¹⁴

About RSV & RSV Vaccine

RSV is a common and highly contagious respiratory virus that produces cold symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, wheezing, decreased appetite, and fever. Most people who become infected with RSV will recover fully within a week or two without treatment.¹⁵

Young infants and children, older adults, and individuals with immune system disorders and chronic health conditions are at an increased risk of RSV infection and may also be at an elevated risk of developing complications from the illness.¹⁶ Complications of RSV infection include inflammation of the small airways within the lungs (bronchiolitis) and lung infection (pneumonia) and may require hospitalization for supportive care.¹⁷

To learn more about RSV and RSV vaccines and their complications and risks, visit NVIC’s RSV webpages.

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4 Responses to "ACIP Recommends RSV Vaccination for Pregnant Women"

Ron

Posted: 9/28/2023 2:57:13 PM

From my viewpoint as a healthcare scientist; I see no safe and effective modern day " vaccines"; many of which have proved to be highly dangerous, mostly ineffectual ( think Flu vaccine does not prevent the flu). More recent "vaccines" such as HPV, Covid and others such as the MMR have proven to be quite dangerous and with little to no benefits. According to the Nuremberg trials, the US Constitution, religious freedom as well as Civil Rights and other laws, including Informed Consent there is no legitimate reason for most persons to take or worse; forced to take any "vaccine". The reason I put the word vaccine in quotation marks is because these modem Jabs are not true vaccines; such as Dr. Jenner, with whom he inoculated persons in the early 1800s... Dr. Jenners' vaccine worked by inducing cross reactive immunity with a safe skin scratch of cows' pus ( ie, vaccine; from the Latin for cow; vaca). Modern day Jabs are nothing like the safe and effective true vaccine that Jenner employed. These modern Jabs are loaded with toxins, aborted fetal cells and an array of dangerous and ill conceived substances; many of which are designed to create illness; even death....

Suez

Posted: 9/28/2023 4:10:10 PM

Thanks so much for the truth

Bob

Posted: 9/29/2023 8:04:48 AM

Ron, I agree with your opening statement but to say that what Jenner did was anything close to safe and effective is ridiculous. Jenner was a fraud as is the entire vaccination process. Remember this quote:"Never was humanity cursed by a blacker superstition than that disease can be cured and health maintained by the absorption of virulent poisons"--Henry Lindlahr MD

Jael Cahoon

Posted: 1/12/2024 10:05:10 AM

I’ve been trying to find some information on the beyfortus Pfizer product. It have been very difficult. I want to know the ingredients and what studies have been done and published. Thank you so much for your help.