The Cyprus Pulmonology Society has requested the approval of the RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) vaccine for use in Cyprus for the aforementioned patient categories. In a letter addressed to the Minister of Health, Michalis Damianou, the society also calls for the inclusion of the selected vaccine in the national vaccination programme under the General Healthcare System.
The letter, which has been made public and is signed by Dr Alexis Papadopoulos, President of the Cyprus Pulmonology Society (CPS), states that the respiratory syncytial virus is the leading cause of viral lower respiratory tract infections in children. It is also transmissible to adults and frequently causes lower respiratory tract infections.
The CPS recommends vaccination with either of the two available vaccines (RSVPreF3, RSVpreF), which were approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in 2023 for protection against RSV and are both effective and safe.
Furthermore, the letter highlights that this winter, Cyprus has been experiencing an exceptionally high RSV burden, which has strained the healthcare system to its limits, resulting in numerous hospitalisations, increased visits to general practitioners, and loss of working hours.
The CPS recommends vaccination for all patients with cystic fibrosis, severe interstitial lung disease, severe pulmonary hypertension, and those with COPD (especially those with COPD and cardiovascular diseases).
Additionally, it advises vaccination for all asthma patients (with particular emphasis on those with severe asthma), all patients over 60 with at least one comorbidity [such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases (heart failure, coronary artery disease, severe valvular diseases), hypertension, cerebrovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease, congenital or acquired immunosuppression], and for all individuals over 75 years old.
Finally, the letter refers to recent data from hospitalisations of adults due to viral respiratory infections in the USA (JAMA 2024), which indicate that hospitalisations due to RSV infection are more severe compared to those related to influenza and coronavirus in patients who had been vaccinated against those respective viruses.
Also read: Price increases for 179 GeSY medicines
Photo source: AARP
