Moderna is also developing a vaccine against the RS virus

The idea of ​​Pfizer’s RSV vaccine was impressive: pregnant women were vaccinated with it and thus passed on the protection to their unborn children. According to a publication in November, protection was 82 percent in the delicate first three months of life, when the airways are particularly narrow and vulnerable.

Moderna has now also announced a vaccine: On Wednesday, the company announced that its vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) had been tested in a phase 3 study of 37,000 adults and had achieved protection of 83.7 percent. Unlike Pfizer’s protein vaccine, Moderna’s is an mRNA vaccine with the same lipid nanoparticles that their corona vaccine contains.

The vaccine has been tested on people over the age of 60. Children are also a target group: Moderna writes that a phase 1 study with children is also underway. Since infection with RSV is particularly dangerous in the first three months of life, newborns should be vaccinated – but the first vaccinations are usually not given until they are two months old. The approval of a vaccine for pregnant women, as Pfizer plans, is therefore more likely.

Also in the tube, Moderna has a double and a triple vaccination consisting of active ingredients against flu and RSV as well as flu, RSV and Sars-CoV-2. These studies are still in phase 1. (bzbasel.ch)