RFK JR.
The external view of the entrance to the Merck headquarters in Rahway, New Jersey, on February 5, 2024.
Spencer Platt | Getty pictures
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s revised government committee of external vaccine advisors on Thursday recommended the use of Merchant'S shot to protect infants from respiratory path -syncytial viruses, a temporary explanation of civil servants and companies for public healthcare and companies that deal with the immunization directive of the health and human service.
The group, which was referred to as the advisory committee for immunization practices or ACIP, unanimously voted to include Merck's shot in the list of recommended vaccinations in childhood.
The voices in favor of the injectable antibody Enflonsia are a sigh of the relief for drug manufacturers and the medical community after Kennedy gained the committee and dismantled replacement at the beginning of this month.
With the department, the company enables the shot before the RSV season, which normally starts autumn and winter and takes spring. Enflonsia recommended for infants during their first RSV season Sanofi And Astrazeneca Called Beyfortus.
Both are preventive monoclonal antibodies that deliver antibodies directly into the bloodstream in order to offer immediate protection. But each aims at another part of the virus, which makes it difficult to compare it directly.
“Recommendations of ACIP are an important step forward in reducing the significant stress that RSV continues to use for infants, families and health systems,” said Dr. Richard M. Haupt, Merck's head of global medical and scientific matters, vaccines and infectious diseases, in an explanation.
Every year, RSV causes thousands of deaths in older Americans and hundreds of deaths in infants, and complications from the virus are the most common cause of hospital stays in newborns. In A With the middle to late level against enflons, the shot reduced hospital stays in connection with RSV by more than 84% and reduced hospital stays due to lower airway infections by 90% compared to a placebo in infants in five months.
Two of the vaccine critics in the panel, Retseef Levi and Vicky Pbsworth, voted against the recommendation of Merck's shot and questioned his security throughout the meeting.
However, some other members underlined Merck's shot security, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration at the beginning of this month.
“These are really remarkable products. They are safe and they are effective and I don't think there is any further data that must be presented,” said member Dr. Cody Meissner, professor of pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine in Dartmouth.
The ACIP “Working group has spent an enormous time with it, the FDA spent enormous effort to look at security and effectiveness, and it is simply not a problem here,” said Meissner, who also held advisory functions with the CDC and the FDA.
Other experts from the meeting who are not members of the committee agreed.
“This is enormous progress for medicine, and I ask the committee to approved and adopt this resolution so that we can continue to protect our children and keep it healthy,” said Dr. Jason Goldman, President of the American College of Physicians.
Levi said he was voted against the shot because he believes that it is not “ready to be administered to all healthy babies. He added:” I think we should follow a more precaution. “
The vote expressly recommends a dose of Merck's shot for infants aged 8 months or disciples who occurred during or in their first RSV season.
