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The committee has backed Abrysvo being added to the NIP, but GPs have warned additional supply must be guaranteed to ensure a successful rollout.
So far this year, 99,642 cases have been reported with more than half of those in infants aged 0–4 years old.
Pregnant women could soon be better protected against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) after the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee recommended adding it to the National Immunisation Program (NIP).
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) registered Abrysvo in March for pregnant women between 24–36 weeks of gestation and individuals 60 years of age and above.
The PBAC previously rejected a submission for it to be added to the NIP, saying it was too expensive.
However, after its manufacturer, Pfizer, offered a lower price in a resubmission in May, the PBAC changed its previous recommendation and is now calling for the vaccine’s addition to the Program.
‘The resubmission requests a NIP listing for recombinant syncytial prefusion F protein vaccine for the prevention of lower respiratory tract illness caused by RSV in infants from birth through to six months of age by the active immunisation of pregnant women,’ the PBAC concluded.
Recent clinical trials found that for mothers who were vaccinated between weeks 24 and 36 of their pregnancies, the Abrysvo immunisation was 82% effective at preventing severe disease in infants in the first three months after birth.
Dr Leanne Jones, a Tasmanian-based GP and Immunisation Coalition Board Member, described the news as ‘really exciting’.
‘RSV is a cause for really high rates of admission in children under 12 months to hospital, so you can reduce the number of children that are being admitted to hospital with potentially a fatal disease,’ she told newsGP.
‘Until COVID came along people hadn’t heard of RSV unless they were a parent with a child who’d had it or a health professional.
‘Then we started testing people for a number of respiratory viruses, and suddenly everybody discovers, “oh, RSV isn’t just a baby’s disease” … so there’s a lot more talk about it and about what it is.’
The recommendation comes as RSV rates continue to skyrocket across Australia.
So far this year, 99,642 cases have been reported, with more than half of those in infants aged 0–4 years old.
A growing list of states are now offering their own free RSV vaccination programs, targeting children and vulnerable patients.
One of those states, Queensland, recently released data showing a significant decrease in hospitalisations for babies under two months, with 60 fewer newborns needing hospital care (153 to 93) compared to the same period last year.
Over one four-week period, only 12 newborns were hospitalised with RSV, none of whom were immunised.
However, Dr Jones said these programs mean more needs to be done to support GPs should the vaccine receive a wider rollout, as supply is currently being ‘soaked up’.
‘GPs need a reliable supply and good information from the relevant bodies, like NCIRS and Immunisation Coalition, that this is a safe vaccine to give,’ she said.
‘They’ll need the information and evidence, because it’s new and it’s not something that they would have been familiar with, but I’m sure that we’ll get that education message across.’
GP Dr Rod Pearce, who is also Chair of the Immunisation Coalition, has also welcomed the recommendation, but said barriers have been put into place which are preventing the quick rollout of approved vaccines.
‘We’ve had this issue where Australia treats vaccines like drugs, and we’ve all recognised that doesn’t work particularly well,’ he told newsGP.
‘We’ve got this process where we’re waiting for the PBAC to look at it and then come back and say, “no, it’s too expensive”, and then we’re having this block where we’ve got good vaccines that aren’t getting used.
‘These have been recognised as good vaccines by the technical body that looks at them, so why do we have to wait for the PBAC process? But that’s what Australia’s got at the moment.’
Dr Pearce said with a growing list of vaccines becoming approved in Australia, the process of rolling immunisations out must be streamlined.
‘We just want government to be speedy and thoughtful about how they move from the technical advice to the implementation advice,’ he said.
‘Don’t make it a two- or three-year barrier from saying, “yes, we’ve got a fantastic vaccine”, and then delaying it for two years for budgetary reasons, not for health reasons.’
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