Pfizer Develops RSV Vaccine for Pregnant Women to Immunize their Unborn

By Jim Hoft

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer is developing a new vaccine given specifically to pregnant women that will immunize an unborn baby while still in the womb. Pfizer claims that their infants will be protected against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) after birth.

According to CDC, RSV is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Most people recover in a week or two, but RSV can be serious, especially for infants and older adults. It is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children younger than 1 year of age in the United States.

“Pfizer Inc. today announced positive top-line data from the Phase 3 clinical trial (NCT04424316) MATISSE (MATernal Immunization Study for Safety and Efficacy) investigating its bivalent RSV prefusion vaccine candidate, RSVpreF or PF-06928316, when administered to pregnant participants to help protect their infants from RSV disease after birth,” Pfizer announced on its website.

“MATISSE is an ongoing randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled Phase 3 study designed to evaluate the efficacy, sa