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The race to make vaccines for a dangerous respiratory virus

Millions of people a year are hospitalized by respiratory syncytial virus and tens of thousands die. After decades of failure, four vaccines are now in late-stage trials.
  1. Kendall Powell

    1. Kendall Powell is a freelance writer in Boulder, Colorado.

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A stethoscope hangs on metal bars of a hospital bed in which a baby with respiratory syncytial virus is being treated by nurses

An infant receives ventilation for respiratory syncytial virus. Infections are often worst in young babies. Credit: Marijan Murat/dpa/Alamy

In February 2020, just as a new coronavirus was triggering the global COVID-19 pandemic, structural biologist Jason McLellan and his team published the structure of the key protein it uses to invade human cells1. Immediately, scientists began using that protein’s structure to develop COVID-19 vaccines.

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Nature 600, 379-380 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-03704-y

References

  1. Wrapp, D. et al. Science 367, 1260–1263 (2020).

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  2. McLellan, J. S. et al. Science 342, 592–598 (2013).

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  3. Zhang, S. et al. J. Infect. Dis. 222, S680–S687 (2020).

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  4. Agha, R. & Avner, J. R. Pediatrics 148, e2021052089 (2021).

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