WASHINGTON (May 9, 2023)--The Food and Drug Administration recently approved a vaccine made by GlaxoSmithKline for respiratory syncytial virus for adults aged 60 and older. RSV is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild cold-like symptoms but can cause potentially serious illness for older people.
Older adults, and especially those with underlying illness, are at high risk of becoming very sick with RSV. FDA estimates that the virus causes up to 10,000 deaths each year in adults aged 65 and older and about 60,000 hospitalizations in the same age group.
RSV is also a leading killer of children around the world.
Elissa Malkin, assistant research professor of medicine at the GW Vaccine Research Unit at the School of Medicine & Health Sciences, has expertise in RSV vaccine development and is the principal investigator of a Phase 3 study of the experimental Pfizer RSV vaccine.
Malkin and her team will study adults aged 18-59 with a chronic condition such as diabetes and adults aged 18 and older who are immunocompromised; both groups are at high risk of becoming severely ill with RSV, Malkin said.
To interview Elissa Malkin, please contact Kathy Fackelmann at kfackelmann
gwu [dot] edu (kfackelmann[at]gwu[dot]edu) or Rachel Larris at rlarrisgwu [dot] edu
To learn more about the GW vaccine trial and how to volunteer, please click here.