CDC-Funded Study Suggests RSV Vaccine May Reduce Severity of Disease, Data Contradicts

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Newly approved vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) may reduce severe disease, similar to how COVID-19 vaccines lessen the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections, according to new research funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The study published April 4 in JAMA Network Open found that during the 16 months preceding approval of the first adult RSV vaccines, individuals with RSV experienced disease severity similar to unvaccinated patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or influenza—but were “substantially more severe” than vaccinated patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or influenza.

CDC researchers compared disease severity in those who received routine COVID-19 and influenza vaccinations with those who were unvaccinated, noting that it could be useful for framing the potential benefits of RSV vaccination, which “may include reduction in disease severity, as observed with COVID-19 and influenza vaccination.”

Yet the study’s supplemental data show patients vaccinated against COVID-19 or influenza had higher odds of dying than unvaccinated patients, and that unvaccinated RSV patients were less likely to die than unvaccinated COVID-19 patients, contradicting the study’s findings on disease severity.

Study Findings

According to the CDC, RSV is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Most people recover in a week or two, but it can be serious and is more commonly diagnosed in infants.

All patients included in the study’s analysis were age 18 or older, had symptoms or signs of acute respiratory illness, and tested positive for RSV, SARS-CoV-2, or influenza within 10 days of illness onset and three days of hospital admission. This means that patients may have tested positive for RSV, COVID-19, or influenza after being hospitalized for an entirely unrelated cause.

Disease severity was compared using a range of clinical outcomes, including a “composite” of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) and in-hospital deaths. Of the 7,998 U.S. adults hospitalized from February 2022 to May 2023, 484 had RSV, 6,422 had COVID-19, and 1,092 had influenza. Of the 484 unvaccinated adults hospitalized with RSV, 58 (12 percent) experienced a severe outcome of invasive IMV or death.

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Among 1,422 unvaccinated adults hospitalized with COVID-19, 201 (14.1 percent) experienced IMV or death, and 458 (9.2 percent) of the 5,000 vaccinated patients experienced IMV or death. Of the 699 unvaccinated and 393 vaccinated patients with influenza, 72 (10.3 percent) and 20 (5.1 percent) experienced IMV or death, respectively.

In adjusted analyses, researchers said that the risk of patients requiring IMV or experiencing in-hospital death didn’t significantly differ between patients hospitalized with RSV and unvaccinated patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or influenza. However, the risk was found to be “significantly higher” among hospitalized RSV patients compared to vaccinated patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or influenza.

The researchers said their results suggest RSV vaccination could reduce in-hospital disease severity, as shown with COVID-19 and influenza vaccination in both previous studies and the analysis. They also noted their findings suggest that RSV is similar in severity to COVID-19 or influenza among unvaccinated patients and more severe among vaccinated patients hospitalized with those diseases.

Martin Michaelis is a professor of molecular medicine at the University of Kent, UK with a doctorate in pharmaceutics. In a post on X, Mr. Michaelis said the study provides an “interesting comparison” of the severity of RSV infections, COVID-19, and influenza and presents evidence that vaccination against all respiratory illnesses is “a good idea.”

‘Something Is Missing Here’

Brian Hooker, Chief scientific officer at Children’s Health Defense, who holds a doctorate in biochemical engineering, told The Epoch Times in an email that he had a different impression of the CDC study.

“Something is missing here. There is no death data,” Mr. Hooker said. “To me it is suspicious that they aggregated IMV and death data instead of reporting each separately.”

According to the CDC’s website, severe outcomes of COVID-19 include “hospitalization, admission to the intensive care unit, intubation or mechanical ventilation, or death.”

CDC investigators, involved in all aspects of the analysis (including the design, analysis, and interpretation of data), combined patients who experienced IMV and those who died. They concluded that the odds of experiencing severe disease were higher among the unvaccinated.

“My guess is that the numbers regarding mortality didn’t portray the message CDC wanted, so they added IMV data as well to skew the results,” Mr. Hooker said.

Aggregated Severe Outcome Data Favored Vaccines

According to the study’s supplemental data, deaths were more frequently reported among vaccinated patients whether or not they had received a COVID-19 or influenza vaccine.

Among unvaccinated patients with COVID-19, 41.8 percent died compared with 46.9 percent of vaccinated patients. Among patients with influenza, 25 percent of unvaccinated patients died compared with 30 percent of vaccinated patients.

Only when deaths were combined with the number of patients who experienced IMVs did unvaccinated patients with RSV experience more severe outcomes than patients vaccinated against influenza and RSV. Additionally, although patients with RSV experienced slightly more deaths than those who received a seasonal influenza vaccine, they experienced fewer deaths than patients vaccinated against COVID-19.

When looking only at IMV data, RSV patients were slightly more likely to experience mechanical ventilation than patients vaccinated against COVID-19 but significantly less likely to experience mechanical ventilation than those vaccinated against influenza.

Although invasive mechanical ventilation occurred more frequently in RSV patients than vaccinated COVID-19 patients, the study states patients with RSV were more likely to have immunocompromising conditions than influenza patients.

CDC Assessed Patients Hospitalized ‘With’ COVID-19

According to the study’s supplemental data, numerous patients had underlying and potentially life-threatening comorbidities, including heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, prior strokes, spinal cord injuries, pulmonary diseases, end-stage renal disease, bleeding disorders, and immunocompromising conditions.

Yet the study did not state which underlying medical conditions patients had in each group or their vaccination status. It also did not disclose data on how many patients were hospitalized for RSV, COVID-19, or influenza versus how many were hospitalized for an unrelated condition and were subsequently diagnosed with a respiratory illness. In patients who experienced IMV or death, the study did not provide information on the cause of death.

The Epoch Times contacted the CDC for comment but has not received a response.