Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an important and ubiquitous respiratory pathogen for which no vaccine is available notwithstanding more than 50 years of effort. It causes the most severe disease at the extremes of age and in settings of immunodeficiency. Although RSV is susceptible to neutralizing antibody, it has evolved multiple mechanisms of immune evasion allowing it to repeatedly infect people despite relatively little genetic diversity. Recent breakthroughs in determining the structure and antigenic content of the fusion (F) glycoprotein in its metastable untriggered prefusion form (pre-F) and the stable rearranged postfusion form (post-F) have yielded vaccine strategies that can induce potent neutralizing antibody responses and effectively boost pre-existing neutralizing activity. In parallel, novel live-attenuated and chimeric virus vaccine candidates and other novel approaches to deliver vaccine antigens have been developed. These events and activities have aroused optimism and a robust pipeline of potential vaccine products that promise to provide a means to reduce the public health burden of RSV infection.

呼吸道合胞病毒（RSV）是一种重要且普遍存在的呼吸道病原体，尽管经过50多年的努力，仍无法获得疫苗。它在极端的年龄和免疫缺陷的情况下引起最严重的疾病。尽管RSV易受中和抗体的影响，但它已进化出多种逃避免疫的机制，尽管遗传多样性相对较少，但仍可反复感染人。确定融合（F）糖蛋白的亚稳态未触发融合前形式（pre-F）和稳定重排融合后形式（post-F）的最新突破已经产生了可以诱导有效中和抗体反应的疫苗策略，并且有效增强先前存在的中和活性。在平行下，已经开发了新的减毒活病毒和嵌合病毒候选疫苗以及其他新的递送疫苗抗原的方法。这些事件和活动引起了人们的乐观情绪，并且潜在的疫苗产品阵容强大，有望为减轻RSV感染的公共卫生负担提供一种手段。