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Moderna says its RSV vaccine highly effective in older adults

By Mallika Marshall, MD

January 18, 2023 / 5:41 PM EST / CBS Boston

BOSTON - Moderna claims its RSV vaccine is highly effective in older adults.

The respiratory syncytial virus, which dominated respiratory infections just a few months ago, does not only cause breathing problems in babies and toddlers but in older adults as well, and there is currently no approved vaccine.

But Moderna has reportedly developed one with the same messenger RNA technology used in its COVID-19 vaccine. And in a large clinical trial, those 60 and older who received the RSV vaccine were almost 84-percent less likely to develop symptoms compared to those who didn't receive the shot.

Time will tell whether it also prevents severe disease, hospitalization, and death and whether it works in children as well.

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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