Johns Hopkins RSV Vaccine Study

Annapolis Pediatrics is excited to offer our families an opportunity to participate in a study of a vaccine to prevent RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).

RSV infection occurs in many infants and young children each year, causing respiratory illness that ranges from a mild cold, to asthma-like symptoms (wheezing), to severe respiratory illness requiring hospitalization.   Most parents of young children have heard of RSV, and over the past year there has been a monoclonal antibody immunization (Beyfortus) that we have been giving to young infants. However, there is no licensed product to prevent RSV disease in older infants and toddlers.

This RSV vaccine will be given by nose spray to children ages 6 months to 22 months. It may provide more long-lasting immunity than Beyfortus, and can be given to older infants and toddlers.  The vaccine was developed at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in partnership with Sanofi Pasteur. This vaccine was tested by our colleagues at Johns Hopkins and by Sanofi in preliminary studies in several hundred children for safety and to measure antibody responses. Based on success in those studies, the vaccine is now being tested  in a Phase 3 trial to see how it prevents RSV disease in the real world.

This is a placebo controlled trial, meaning your child would receive 2 doses of either the study vaccine or placebo (nasal spray without vaccine), and would be followed for respiratory illness for 2 years afterward. With any respiratory symptoms you would be in touch with the study team who would arrange for your child to be examined and have a nasal swab taken (from the front of the nose) at the Johns Hopkins study site in Columbia, MD.  Annapolis Pediatrics would remain informed and involved in your child’s care as much as necessary.

Please ask your provider for more information, and/or contact Johns Hopkins (phone number, email and QR code on the flyer below) by August 23rd for information about how your family can participate in the study. 

Thank you for considering participating in research that has the potential to save children’s lives in the future.

Katherine S.K. Edwards, MD 

Annapolis Pediatrics Medical Director

Click to enlarge flyer.

Call or email Johns Hopkins University at the contact above by August 23rd, 2024, or scan the QR code for information about how your family can participate in the study.