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Adults age 75 and older who haven’t yet received an RSV vaccine should get one later this summer or early in the fall to help protect against severe symptoms brought on by the respiratory

syncytial virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on June 26. The same goes for people ages 60 to 74 who are at higher risk for RSV complications due to chronic

health conditions like heart or lung disease, or who are living in a nursing home.  These recommendations are a change from last year’s, which encouraged adults 60 and older to talk to their

doctor about whether the RSV vaccine is right for them. The update is meant to “simplify RSV vaccine decision-making for clinicians and the public,” the CDC said, and is based on the latest

research looking at RSV’s burden, plus vaccine effectiveness and cost-effectiveness studies. Two RSV vaccines were federally approved for the older adult population in 2023, and a third was

cleared in 2024 . As of May 11, an estimated 24 percent of adults 60 and older said they had received one, federal data shows. WHY A VACCINE? RSV is a common respiratory virus that in most

people causes cold-like symptoms. In young children and older adults, however, an infection can turn dangerous, even deadly. Adults with chronic heart or lung disease and those with weakened

immune systems are also at high risk for complications from an infection. Two vials of Arexvy, developed from manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the world's first RSV vaccine for

60-plus adults. Rawpixel Ltd. / Associated Press RSV can lead to pneumonia and bronchiolitis (an inflammation of the small airways in the lung). It can also worsen other chronic health

conditions common among the older population, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). “We’ve learned so much more about RSV, and now it’s quite evident that it

really is as important as influenza, particularly for older adults, and even more so for those with underlying conditions,” says William Schaffner, M.D., professor of preventive medicine and

infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. The CDC estimates that RSV sends as many as 160,000

older Americans to the hospital annually; as many as 10,000 older adults die each year from an RSV infection. By comparison, during the 2021–2022 flu season, 52,872 adults 65 and older were

hospitalized with influenza, and 4,115 died.