After the United States, the European Union. The European Commission announced on Friday, August 23, that it had approved the Moderna laboratory vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), responsible for bronchiolitis, for people over 60 years of age. This is the first time that a messenger RNA vaccine has been approved in the European Union for a disease other than Covid-19. The United States had already given its authorization for this new vaccine at the end of May.
RSV is a very common and contagious virus, especially known for causing bronchiolitis (infection of the small bronchi) in young children during the winter. It also affects adults and can be dangerous for the elderly when it degenerates into a respiratory infection.
213,000 young children hospitalized each year in Europe
In the EU, Norway and the UK, RSV leads to the hospitalization of some 158,000 adults each year, as well as some 213,000 children under five, according to the ECDC, a European infectious disease control body.
“Vaccination saves lives,” said Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health, in a statement announcing the green light from the European authorities. The Commission’s decision was taken following a favourable opinion issued in June by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
However, this authorization only concerns patients over 60 years of age.
The EU has already approved two other RSV vaccines, produced by Pfizer and GSK, but of a conventional design that does not use so-called mRNA technology.