This is a great step forward for the health of babies: after the launch this autumn of the new monoclonal antibody Beyfortus, the first vaccine against bronchiolitis, intended for pregnant women, should arrive in the coming months. Although one in three babies is affected each winter by this disease (which is currently accelerating and ten regions are now in the epidemic phase), this new vaccine raises many expectations.
A progress that was welcomed by Christèle Gras-Le Guen, head of the pediatrics department at the Nantes University Hospital and president of the French Pediatric Society (SFP) for BFMTV.com.
“The prospect of this new means of prevention is a source of great hope.”
This vaccine, called Abrysvo, It was authorized at the end of July by the European Medicines Agency before The European Commission does not give the green light at the end of August. Marketed by the Pfizer laboratory, it will be aimed at pregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy, as well as people over 60 years of age.
Not before winter 2024
“For newborns, we talk about passive immunization,” explains virologist Marie-Anne Rameix-Welti, researcher at the national reference center for respiratory viruses at the Pasteur Institute and Inserm, to BFMTV.com. “Vaccinated pregnant women produce antibodies that cross the placental barrier. In this way, mothers transmit them to their fetuses, which are therefore immunized.”
Protection for babies up to approximately 6 months of age, as well as for chickenpox or measles if the mother has already contracted the first and has been vaccinated against the second.
But we will still have to wait a while before pregnant women can benefit from it. In fact, Abrysvo will not be available until next winter season. This is specified by the General Directorate of Health (DGS) on BFMTV.com.
“The vaccination modalities, the target population and the organizational aspects will be specified by the health authorities following advice from the High Health Authority”, scheduled for May 2024, a framework note specifies.
A highly contagious viral infection
Bronchiolitis is an acute and highly contagious viral infection. Most of the time it is due to the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which causes inflammation of the walls of the bronchioles, that is, the smallest bronchi, and an increase in secretions, causing a phenomenon of obstruction, explains the site. of Health Insurance.
This disease affects children under 2 years of age and is characterized by an episode of respiratory distress with cough, rapid breathing and wheezing. A disease that can degenerate rapidly in babies. “If you or I have a runny nose or cough in winter, it is nothing serious,” says pediatrician and university professor Christèle Gras-Le Guen.
“But if a baby leaving the maternity ward becomes infected, they could end up in intensive care.”
“This is the first time that we finally have a preventive treatment for serious RSV infections,” Marie-Anne Rameix-Welti also enthuses. “We have been looking for an effective means of prevention for years.” After the discovery of the virus in 1956, the first vaccine tests took place in the late 1960s, recalls the virologist. “But so far we do not have any effective means with an attractive cost/benefit ratio.”
“It will limit serious forms”
However, Abrysvo – like the Covid vaccine – will not prevent contracting the disease, says virologist Marie-Anne Rameix-Welti, also a professor at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. “It will limit serious forms.”
Like Beyfortus, a new monoclonal antibody now available, offered for the first time this year. This treatment, which requires only one injection from birth, protects babies from RSV and can also be injected as a catch-up injection for children born since the last epidemic.
But it was a victim of its own success: just two weeks after its release in September, The Ministry of Health decided to reserve access to maternity wards. However, some experienced stock shortages and not all newborns were able to benefit from them, as one mother testified to BFMTV.com.
Cependant, pour les prochaines saisons hivernales, si les infections bénignes ne triggerîtront donc pas, le vaccin et le nouveau treatment permettront de réduire le nombre de cas sévères, d’hospitalisations et éviteront la saturation des services de réanimation, comme cela s’était produit last year. The epidemic was characterized by a “very high intensity”, notes Public Health France, particularly in terms of emergency room visits and hospitalizations of children under 2 years of age, that is, more than 26,000.
The epidemic had been such that babies in intensive care had to be transferred to other regions due to lack of space in pediatric departments, saturated by cases of bronchiolitis. The Minister of Health, François Braun, had mentioned a “critical situation in the health system” and the Orsan plan had been activated.
During the last winter season, the bronchiolitis epidemic began in the first week of October, reminds Public Health France in its 2022-2023 surveillance report. The peak was reached in early December and the epidemic ended in mid-January. But, like the previous season, the start of the epidemic was early and its duration was long (that is, 16 weeks compared to 12 in the 2015-2020 period).
Source: BFM TV
