Potential impact of maternal vaccination on life-threatening respiratory syncytial virus infection during infancy

• Published in: Vaccine Vol. 36; no. 31; pp. 4693 - 4700
• Main Authors: Scheltema, Nienke M., Kavelaars, Xynthia M., Thorburn, Kentigern, Hennus, Marije P., van Woensel, Job B., van der Ent, Cornelis K., Borghans, José A.M., Bont, Louis J., Drylewicz, Julia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Ltd 25.07.2018; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Children; Gestational age; Immunization; Infant mortality; Infants; Life-threatening infections; Maternal vaccination; Mathematical model; Mathematical models; Mortality; Respiratory syncytial virus; RSV; Vaccination; Vaccines; Viruses; United Kingdom > UK; Netherlands; Infant mortality; RSV; Mathematical model; Life-threatening infections; Maternal vaccination
• ISSN: 0264-410X; 1873-2518
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.06.021

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection is an important cause of infant mortality. Here, we estimated the potential impact of maternal vaccination against RSV on life-threatening RSV infection in infants. We developed a mathematical model for maternal vaccine-induced antibody dynamics and used characteristics of a maternal RSV vaccine currently in phase 3 of clinical development. The model was applied to data from two cohorts of children younger than 12 months with RSV-related paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission in the United Kingdom (n = 370) and the Netherlands (n = 167), and a cohort of 211 children younger than 12 months with RSV-related in-hospital death from 20 countries worldwide. Our model predicted that, depending on vaccine efficiency, maternal vaccination at 30 weeks’ gestational age could have prevented 62–75% of RSV-related PICU admissions in the United Kingdom and 76–87% in the Netherlands. For the global mortality cohort, the model predicted that maternal vaccination could have prevented 29–48% of RSV-related in-hospital deaths. Preterm children and children with comorbidities were predicted to benefit less than (healthy) term children. Maternal vaccination against RSV may substantially decrease life-threatening RSV infections in infants.