VOA健康报道2023--US Drug Officials Approve RSV Vaccine for Pregnant Women

US Drug Officials Approve RSV Vaccine¹ for Pregnant Women

American food and drug officials recently approved the first RSV vaccine for pregnant women. The drug will inoculate² the fetus³ and provide protection from the dangerous lung disease at birth.

RSV stands for respiratory syncytial virus. RSV cases fill hospitals with wheezing⁴ babies every fall and winter. Pfizer's newly approved vaccine will mean babies can be protected against RSV at birth. Experts say this will guard against severe RSV infections when babies are most vulnerable — from birth through 6 months.

The drug is named Abrysvo. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must issue guidelines, or recommendations, for use of Abrysvo during pregnancy⁵.

"Maternal⁶ vaccination⁷ is an incredible way to protect the infants," said Dr. Elizabeth Schlaudecker of Cincinnati Children's Hospital in Ohio. Schlaudecker was among the researchers in Pfizer's international study of the vaccine. If shots begin soon, she said, "I do think we could see an impact for this RSV season."

RSV is a minor⁸ sickness for most healthy people but it can be life-threatening for the very young. It swells⁹ babies' airways¹⁰, making breathing difficult. It can also lead to the disease pneumonia¹¹. In the U.S. alone, the disease leads to hospital stays for between 58,000 and 80,000 children under the age of 5 each year. It kills several hundred a year.

Last year's RSV season was bad in the U.S. It began sickening young children in the summer, far earlier than usual.

Babies are born with an under-developed defense¹² system. They depend on their mothers for disease protection in the first few months after birth.

Here is how the RSV vaccination treatment will work: A single injection late in pregnancy gives enough time for the mother to develop antibodies. These pass to the fetus and are ready to work at birth.

It is the same way pregnant women pass along protection against other infections. Pregnant women have long been urged to get flu and whooping¹³ cough vaccines¹⁴, and more recently, COVID-19 shots.

Pfizer's study included nearly 7,400 pregnant women and their babies. Maternal vaccination did not prevent mild RSV infection. However, it proved 82 percent effective at preventing a severe case during the first three months after birth. At age 6 months, it still was proving 69 percent effective against severe sickness.

Vaccine reactions were mostly tiredness and pain at the site of injection. In the study, there was a small difference in early birth — just a few weeks early — between vaccinated¹⁵ moms and those given an inactive shot. Pfizer has said that outcome was due to chance. The FDA said to avoid the possibility of early birth, the vaccination should take place between 32 weeks and 36 weeks of pregnancy. The researchers vaccinated the study patients a few weeks earlier in the process.

If enough pregnant women get vaccinated, Pfizer predicts the U.S. could prevent as many as 20,000 infant hospitalizations a year and 320,000 doctor visits.

The only other way to guard babies from RSV is to give them lab-made antibodies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also recently approved a new drug for all infants younger than 8 months. Called Beyfortus, it is a single dose treatment given before a baby's first RSV season. Sanofi and AstraZeneca made the drug, which is supposed to be available this fall.

Schlaudecker, the Cincinnati Children's Hospital doctor, predicts that doctors will try a combination of the treatments when they become available.

Another Cincinnati Children's Hospital doctor volunteered to take part in Pfizer's vaccine study when she became pregnant. Dr. Maria Deza Leon has cared for seriously sick RSV patients in her work.

"The last thing a parent wants to see is their kid struggling to breathe," she said. "I was also at risk of being the person that could get RSV and give it to my son without even realizing."

Deza Leon received her shot in late January 2022 and her son Joaquin was born the following month. The doctor has not yet learned if she received the vaccine or the inactive shot. However, Joaquin is a healthy little boy who has never had a confirmed case of RSV.

Words in This Story

inoculate — v. to introduce material (as a vaccine) into the body especially by injection to protect against or treat a disease

wheeze¹⁶ — v. to breathe with difficulty usually with a whistling sound

vulnerable — adj. open to attack or damage

incredible — adj. extraordinary

impact — n. a forceful effect

dose — n. the measured amount of a medicine to be taken at one time

1 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

2 inoculate   

v.给...接种，给...注射疫苗

参考例句：

• A corps of doctors arrived to inoculate the recruits.一队医生来给新兵打防疫针。
• I was just meant to come out here and inoculate some wee babies.我是过来这边给小孩子们接种疫苗的。

3 fetus   

n.胎，胎儿

参考例句：

• In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
• No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。

4 wheezing   

v.喘息，发出呼哧呼哧的喘息声( wheeze的现在分词 )；哮鸣

参考例句：

• He was coughing and wheezing all night. 他整夜又咳嗽又喘。
• A barrel-organ was wheezing out an old tune. 一架手摇风琴正在呼哧呼哧地奏着一首古老的曲子。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

6 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

7 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

8 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

9 swells   

增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The waters were heaving up in great swells. 河水正在急剧上升。
• A barrel swells in the middle. 水桶中部隆起。

10 AIRWAYS   

航空公司

参考例句：

• The giant jets that increasingly dominate the world's airways. 越来越称雄于世界航线的巨型喷气机。
• At one point the company bought from Nippon Airways a 727 jet. 有一次公司从日本航空公司买了一架727型喷气机。

11 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

12 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

13 whooping   

发嗬嗬声的，发咳声的

参考例句：

• Whooping cough is very prevalent just now. 百日咳正在广泛流行。
• Have you had your child vaccinated against whooping cough? 你给你的孩子打过百日咳疫苗了吗？

14 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

15 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

16 wheeze   

n.喘息声，气喘声；v.喘息着说

参考例句：

• The old man managed to wheeze out a few words.老人勉强地喘息着说出了几句话。
• He has a slight wheeze in his chest.他呼吸时胸部发出轻微的响声。