By Sneha S K and Mariam Sunny
(Reuters) -The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s panel of outside experts on Wednesday recommended the use of respiratory syncytial virus vaccines in younger adults who are at increased risk of severe illness from the virus.
The 15-member panel voted 14-to-0 to recommend that at-risk adults ages 50 to 59 receive a single dose of RSV vaccine. One of the panel members abstained from voting.
The CDC currently recommends the vaccine for adults age 75 and older and at-risk adults ages 60 to 74.
"What’s swaying me is there clearly are people in that 50 to 59 years age group, for example lung transplant patients, ...that would clearly benefit from having access to this vaccine," Jane Zucker, one of the voting members of the panel, said ahead of the vote.
If the recommendation is adopted by the CDC, it would make about 30% of U.S. adults in that age group eligible for the RSV vaccine, according to panelist Michael Melgar.
The outside vaccine experts also asked for more data on durability of the shot’s benefits as well as the timing for re-vaccination.
"I’m a huge proponent of lowering the age as well as making it as simple as possible... and the fact that they kept the risk base as broad as it was," said Jason Goldman, a non-voting panel member.
RSV typically causes cold-like symptoms, but is also a leading cause of pneumonia in toddlers and older adults. An estimated 15,000–20,000 annual RSV-associated hospitalizations occur in the U.S. in adults aged 50 to 59, according to the CDC.
The CDC director typically signs off on the panel’s recommendations before they are implemented, but the agency does not currently have one. President Donald Trump’s nomination for the post, Susan Monarez, has yet to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved three vaccines for RSV — GSK’s Arexvy, Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA)’s mRESVIA and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)’s Abrysvo.
Arexvy and Abrysvo are approved to prevent RSV-associated lower respiratory tract disease in adults aged 50 to 59 and 18 to 59, respectively, who are at an increased risk from the disease.
Moderna’s application for at-risk adults aged 18 to 59 is under FDA review.
The panel is expected to consider the use of RSV vaccines in adults younger than 50 at its June meeting.
The panel also voted to recommend use of GSK’s pentavalent meningococcal vaccine and separate vaccines from Bavarian Nordic (CSE:BAVA) and Valneva (EPA:VLS) against chikungunya, a mosquito-borne virus.
On Tuesday, the panel discussed narrowing recommendations on the use of COVID-19 booster shots for the upcoming immunization campaign.