The construction of recombinant respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) strains deleted of the region of G protein most likely to induce unwanted type 2 T cell responses in susceptible recipients is disclosed. Using reverse genetics, recombinant RSV strains were engineered with deletions of amino acids 151-221 and 178-219. Both RSV strains replicated in the respiratory tract of BALB/c mice and elicited serum neutralization and anti-F protein IgG titers that were equivalent to cp-RSV and contributed to a 3.9 log10 reduction in RSV A2 four days after challenge. Importantly, pulmonary eosinophilia was significantly diminished in BALB/c mice primed with native G protein and challenged with either recombinant RSV strain. These findings are important for the development of immunogenic compositions against RSV.