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A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee on Friday recommended pregnant people get Pfizer Inc.’s
PFE,
maternal vaccine to protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus.
In an 11-to-1 vote, the CDC advisers recommended that the shot be seasonally administered to pregnant people at 32 through 36 weeks’ gestation.
RSV affects the lungs and breathing passages and can be particularly risky for babies and for older adults. The virus hospitalizes 58,000 to 80,000 children under 5 years of age annually, according to the CDC, with those at greater risk including premature infants and children with weakened immune systems.
The Pfizer shot, Abrysvo, last month became the first maternal RSV vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It is designed to protect babies through the first six months of life.
The committee’s recommendation “reinforces the wide-ranging impact vaccines can have, including helping protect infants immediately at birth from the potentially severe and life-threatening complications that can develop from RSV,” Luis Jodar, Pfizer’s chief medical officer for vaccines medical development, said in a statement.
The maternal vaccine has a list price of $295 per dose.
The CDC has previously recommended nirsevimab, a monoclonal antibody jointly developed by AstraZeneca PLC
AZN,
and Sanofi
SNY,
for all infants younger than 8 months born during or entering their first RSV season. The CDC advisers said Friday that either maternal vaccination or use of the monoclonal antibody is recommended, but that both products are not needed.
Pfizer’s Abrysvo was also approved earlier this year to protect older adults from RSV. The company has said it expects peak revenues of about $2 billion from Abrysvo, including the uses in both older adults and pregnant people.
Pfizer shares are down 0.5% Friday and have dropped 36% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
SPX
has gained 12.6%.
