Vaccine panel recommends RSV shot
Committee also plans to reexamine childhood immunization schedule
By: Adrianna Rodriguez
USA Today
..... An important vaccine committee decided June 26 [2025] to recommend a shot that protects infants against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
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Clesrovunab, a monoclonal antibody created by Merck, is recommended for infants younger than eight months old who were born during RSV season or are entering their first season for the illness.
..... It was the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory committee on Immunization Practices' first vote since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members on June 9. [2025] He appointed eight new members a few days later.
..... Given the inclusion of vaccine skeptics, the approval came as a surprise to close watchers of the panel. Chair Martin Kulldorff reconnect served as an expert witness for plaintiffs who accused Merck of concealing the risk of gardasil a vaccine used to prevent cancer form human papillomavius, or HPV.
..... Experts from the CDC's work group that presented data on Clesrovimab universally supported the drug. However, two panel members still voted against it.
..... RSV infects nearly everyone by the time they are 2. It causes cold symptoms, affecting the breathing passage and lungs,, according to the CDC. In the United States, about 58,000 children younger that 5 are hospitalized for RSV each year, and several hundred die.
..... Parents will have the choice between Clesrovimab and a shot form Sanofi and AstraZeneca called Beyfortus.
..... The Food and Drug Administration approved Beyfortus in July 2023. The vaccine prevents RSV lower respiratory tract disease in infants entering or during their first RSV season, and was the first of its kind to be widely available beyond a small population of imunio-compromised children.
..... Data presented June 25 [2025] found that shot reduced hospitalization by about 47% in newborns up to two months old, the population at highest risk of hospitalization.
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Dr. Cody Meissner, who voted to recommend the Merck shot, said the results from Beyfortus in the last RSV season were an :astonishing accomplishment,"
..... Pregnant patients also have access to Pfizer's RSV Vaccine Abrysvo, which is recommended during pregnancy to protect newborns form lower respiratory infections.
..... The June 25 [2025] meeting allowed the public its first look at the inner workings of the reconstituted panel, which met despite a national outcry from health experts, officials and organizations calling for a delay.
..... Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and physician, took to social media to urge officials to wait until the panel is "fully staffed with more robust and balanced representation - as requited by law - including those with more direct relevant experience."
..... "Although the appointees to ACIP have scientific credentials, many do not have significant experience studying microbiology, epidemiology or immunology," wrote Cassidy, chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. "In particular, some lack experience studying new technologies such as mRNA vaccine's and may even have a preconceived bias against them."
..... Kulldorff announced at the start of the June 25 [2025] session that the panel plans to reexamine the childhood immunization schedule.
....."The number of vaccines that our children and adolescents receive today exceeds what children in most other developed nations receive and what most of us in this room received when we were children,: he said. "In addition to studying and evaluating individual vaccines, it;s important to evaluate the cumulative effect of the recommended vaccine schedule."
..... Kulidorff added the committee will also establish work groups to investigate vaccines that protect against measles, mumps, and rubella and hepatitis B.
..... The panel's recommendations have wide-ranging implication, guiding vaccine requirements for schools and impacting a government program offering free vaccinations for about half of American's kids.
..... Many experts are concerned the panel's actions will sow doubt in the public about vaccines that have been deemed safe and effective.
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"To raise doubt about our traditional pediatric vaccines that have save millions of lives, particularly during one of the worst measles outbreaks we have had in years, is irresponsible and will cost lives," said Dr Gretchen LaSalle, a family physician in Spokane, Washington, who represents the American Academy of Family Physicians for an ACIP work group.
..... "Our efforts, through a very robust system of checks and balances, are to cerate vaccines and vaccination programs that result in the most benefit with the least harm,' said LaSalle.
.....The CDC panel also reviewed data June 25 [2025] about COVID-19 vaccines, immediately questioning their safety and effectiveness. They raised questions about the study design, methodologies and surveillance monitoring systems behind the data, which Dr, Pamela Rockwell, clinical professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, addressed as standard of medical research.
..... The committee didn't vote on COVID-19 vaccine, recommendations for the fall [2025] and isn't expected to reconvene until September/October," [2025] according to the CDC website.
..... Public comment June 25 [2025] was a mix of voices raising criticisms and concerns about potential harm, form different perspectives.
..... Nurses, pediatricians, public health experts and mothers flooded the public comment portion of the meeting to criticize Kennedy's decision to fire the 17 original ACIP members and to advocate for the protective benefits of vaccines.
..... "The Big Cities Health Coalition is deeply concerned that many routine vaccines may soon become inaccessible or unfordable for millions of Americans if ACIP makes changes based on ideology rather than science," Chrissie Juliliano, executive director of the Big cities Health Coalition, said during the public comment section. "the stakes are simply to high to let that happen."
..... Contributing: Ken Alltucker, USA Today