Each year, respiratory syncytial virus quietly claims the lives of roughly 100,000 children under five — most of them in places where a hospital is a distant hope rather than a nearby certainty. The World Health Organization has now prequalified a multi-dose vial formulation of the maternal RSV vaccine Abrysvo, a logistical refinement that could mean the difference between a medicine that exists and one that actually reaches the people who need it. By immunizing pregnant women in their third trimester, protective antibodies cross the placenta and guard newborns through their most fragile first
WHO Prequalifies Multi-Dose Maternal RSV Vaccine to Expand Global Infant Protection
RSV causes approximately 100,000 deaths annually among children under 5 years old, with nearly half occurring in infants younger than 6 months, predominantly in low- and middle-income countries.