CDC’s ACIP recommends older adults ‘may’ get RSV vaccine

Members of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended new respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines for older adults, but stopped short of saying all older adults should receive them. ACIP members said that anyone aged 60 years and older should be able to get one of the new vaccines against RSV if they and their health care provider believe it would be worthwhile.

The committee voted 9–5 to advise that individuals aged 65 years and older “may” receive an RSV vaccine, based on shared decision-making between patients and health care providers, such as physicians and pharmacists. The RSV vaccines will be covered by Medicare Part D and will be primarily offered in pharmacies.

The committee voted 13 to 0, with one abstention, to advise the same policy for people aged 60 to 64 years.

These recommendations will now go before CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, who is expected to sign off on them soon.

In May 2023, FDA approved both Pfizer’s and GSK’s RSV vaccines for individuals aged 60 years and older. GSK’s vaccine showed an overall vaccine efficacy of 82.6% against lower respiratory tract illness activated by RSV in the first year after vaccination. Pfizer’s vaccine indicated an efficacy of almost 89% against RSV-induced lower respiratory tract infection involving at least three symptoms in the first year after vaccination and 78.6% efficacy halfway through a second RSV season.