In the slipstream of the extraordinary, worldwide natural experiment reducing close
human contact to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2, a drastically but temporarily
diminished transmission of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in children occurred
in the winter of 2020–21.1 This glimpse of a world without RSV gained momentum for
the urgent need for preventive strategies for this prototypical paediatric pathogen,
which causes a spectrum of mild upper-respiratory to severe lower-respiratory tract
disease in young children.