News Flash: May 2023

First time for everything. The FDA has approved Arexvy, the first vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) for use in adults aged 60 years and above (1). RSV is highly contagious and causes infection of the lungs, which can lead to life-threatening pneumonia and bronchiolitis. Each year, RSV is responsible for about 60,000–120,000 hospitalizations and 6,000–10,000 deaths among US adults aged 65 years and above. A single dose of Arexvy reduced the risk of RSV-associated lower respiratory tract disease by 82.6 percent and severe RSV-associated lower respiratory tract disease by 94.1 percent in adults over 60 years, according to ongoing clinical trials.

…and the end of an era. In a media briefing on May 5, 2023, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General  Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “Yesterday, the Emergency Committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice. It is therefore with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency.” The pandemic is still very much a global health threat, Adhanom Ghebreyesus warns, but the announcement means that countries can now shift from dealing with COVID-19 as an emergency to managing it like other infectious diseases (2).

Too much, too soon? Speaking of announcements, on May 11, 2023, WHO declared that mpox is also no longer a  PHEIC, citing the 90 percent decrease in reported cases over the past three months, compared with the previous three (3). Mpox’s emergency status has helped raise awareness of the neglected disease – despite already being endemic in several countries across Africa – and shift vital resources to tackling the global outbreak. However, speaking to Nature, WHO emergency committee members Dimie Ogoina and Boghuma Titanji disagree with the decision to strip its PHEIC status, saying the decision may divert support from governments and public-health leaders in African countries such as Nigeria (4).

Easing up. In 1983, gay and bisexual men were banned from donating blood in the US; now, 40 years later, the FDA has finalized recommendations for assessing blood donor eligibility using risk-based questions to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted HIV (5). Regardless of sexual orientation, sex, or gender, every donor will be asked the same series of individual, risk-based questions to glean their eligibility. In 2022, the American Red Cross declared a national blood crisis and, as of May 12, 2023, 32 percent of community blood centers across North America had only 1–2 days worth of blood supply, and 14 percent only had one day’s worth (6). The new guidance could cast a wider net on how many people are eligible to donate blood, while ensuring safety standards for the blood supply are upheld.