RSV Vaccines from Pfizer and GSK Gain CDC Advisory Committee's Favor for Older Adults

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted in favor of recommending the use of RSV vaccines from Pfizer Inc PFE and GSK plc GSK for older adults.

The FDA approved GSK's Arexvy (respiratory syncytial virus vaccine) and Pfizer's Abrysvo in individuals 60 and older.

The panel didn't go so far as to recommend it for everyone in the age group, citing that patients should first talk to their doctor, partly because the studies didn't enroll many people at the highest risk for severe disease.

Citing committee member Dr. Helen Keipp Talbot, Reuters reported, "Those who are at high risk for disease and for high risk for hospitalizations and death were actually not included in the trials. The patient population that participated in the study were younger and healthier and had fewer comorbid conditions, were not immunocompromised, and were not living in nursing homes."

The committee voted 9-5 to recommend two different RSV vaccines for adults ages 65 and up.

Related: Pfizer's Elderly Vaccine Efficacy Drops Slightly After 18 Months, New Clinical Trials Reveal.

Thirteen members also voted to recommend the shots for adults ages 60 to 64 based on individual risk levels and in consultation with doctors, with one committee member abstaining.

An estimated 55.8 million people aged 65 and older in the U.S. are at increased risk of RSV, a contagious virus that can lead to respiratory illness.

RSV causes approximately 177,000 hospitalizations and an estimated 14,000 deaths in this age group in the U.S. each year.

The CDC's director must sign off on the recommendation before the vaccines can be available. 

Both drugmakers have said they expect to be able to supply the shots ahead of the RSV season later this year.

The recommendations now go to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky for her endorsement. Walensky is expected to sign off on the recommendations sometime late this week or early next, Stat News noted.