NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A Nashville research lab is looking into the effectiveness of an investigational respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for children.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, RSV can be dangerous for babies and some children. It’s also the leading cause of infant hospitalization in the U.S.
“It's such a devastating illness to have, especially when you have tiny kids with small airways to begin with,” said Dr. Stephan Sharp, medical director at Clinical Research Associates in Nashville. “They get less air movement and then less oxygen delivery, so that can kill them.”
That's why Clinical Research Associates hopes to get young ones on board to test if a new nasal spray study vaccine is safe and protects against RSV.
“Little kids hate the shots, so I think this is an approach to get something that's maybe a little bit more acceptable for the kids and the parents, but also highly effective,” Sharp said.
They’re looking for children six months up to 22 months old to participate in their 2-year-long clinical trial.
"The biggest hurdle you have is a lot of moms don't want their kids to have one more needle stick, one more blood draw, one more whatever, and I think that's probably going to keep some folks from being interested,” Sharp said. “But at the end of the day, we do need a vaccine for the little kids against RSV, and you're going to have to have some folks volunteer in order to get one on the market."
Sharp told News 2 that there are currently two FDA-approved vaccines for RSV, both for adults 60 and older, but there's still no approved vaccine for infants and children.
“The only way we're going to get new and better products is to test them in real-life humans,” Sharp said. "Our number one consideration is the well-being of anybody we're overseeing. The parents can ask me questions all day long, but if I think that there's a problem, I won't put the child in, or if something happens during the course of a study, I'll take the patient out, because I don't want to see anybody harmed.”
To determine if your child is eligible, you must fill out a form on the Clinical Research Associates’ website and then a member of their team will contact you to discuss your options.
