Marylanders over 60 may be eligible for a vaccine that has been years in the making this fall.
The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first vaccine for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), more often referred to as the common cold.
However, the illness is responsible for about 14,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, mostly in babies and older adults.
The vaccine was created by GSK and can be given as a single shot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will consider the inoculation next month.
“If we have a vaccine that can reduce the likelihood of hospitalization and death and other severe illness, it will make a big difference to those susceptible individuals,” said Dr. Leana Wen, former Baltimore City health commissioner and professor of public health at George Washington University.
Both Pfizer and Moderna are also developing RSV vaccines, and there are other shots being researched that are focused on younger children.
