mom shares dangers of rsv as 7monthold is hospitalized if the committee votes to recommend authorization the fda will either agree with the advisory panel and authorize the vaccine or not which should occur by may 2023 more microgen imagesscience photo librarygetty images this is outstanding poland said how effective is the vaccine the federal health agency will make a decision by may 2023 and if it decides to approve it will be the first vaccine available in the country to protect against the virus that has swept the country although rsv is known as a childrens disease this is not the case and the virus can affect adults too in the late 1960s a vaccine was produced in which the virus was inactivated with formalin a chemical that kills viruses a respiratory syncytial virus or rsv vaccine for older adults could be on the horizon after pfizer announced wednesday the us food and drug administration would fasttrack review of its experimental vaccine no one needs to die or be hospitalized for this disease again if they take the vaccine and if they have a healthy enough immune system to respond in 2013 researchers at the national institutes of health studied a protein from the virus called the f protein which attaches to human cells and infects people more california child under age 4 dies of rsv whats more an estimated 60000 to 120000 older adults are hospitalized every year and between 6000 and 10000 die cdc via ap file older adults are at greater risk than young adults for serious complications from rsv because our immune systems weaken when we are older the cdc website states they found a way to freeze the protein in the form it takes before its ready to attach to cells known as prefusion form data from the agency shows senior citizens are being hospitalized with the virus at this point in the season at a rate much higher than seen in seasons past we have literally gone from a vaccine that harmed people inadvertently a shutdown in rsv vaccine research to now a phase iii large global trial that showed this vaccine has excellent efficacy and preventing lower respiratory tract disease what is next this will be a turning point because of the burden of disease as of the week ending nov 26 the latest date for which data is available adults aged 65 and older are being hospitalized at a weekly rate of 27 per 100000 in late august the company announced that its vaccine was 667 effective in preventing lower respiratory tract illness and 857 effective at preventing severe disease how does the vaccine work pfizer has submitted what is known as a biologics license application which is tens of thousands of pages long the shot was given to children in washington dc but 80 of those immunized became sick and two children died pfizer ran a phase iii clinical trial testing its vaccine in adults aged 60 and older