ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The fall and winter seasons will be here quickly, and with that in mind, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently updated some suggestions for vaccinations.
At the end of June, CDC updated its recommendation for the use of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccines in people ages 60 and older. For this upcoming respiratory virus season, CDC recommends:
• Everyone ages 75 and older receive the RSV vaccine.
• People ages 60–74 who are at increased risk of severe RSV, meaning they have certain chronic medical conditions, such as lung or heart disease, or they live in nursing homes, receive the RSV vaccine.
“This recommendation is for adults who did not get an RSV vaccine last year. The RSV vaccine is not currently an annual vaccine, meaning people do not need to get a dose every RSV season,” a release from the CDC noted. “Eligible adults can get an RSV vaccine at any time, but the best time to get vaccinated is in late summer and early fall before RSV usually starts to spread in communities. This updated recommendation for people 60 and older replaces the recommendation made last year to simplify RSV vaccine decision-making for clinicians and the public.”
Immunizations were available last year for the first time to protect people at increased risk for severe RSV, including infants and young children, and people ages 60 and older, the CDC release noted, and the updated recommendation is based on analyses of RSV disease burden among people 60 and older, as well as RSV vaccine effectiveness and cost-effectiveness studies. Those studies included the first real-world data since RSV vaccines were recommended for people 60 and older. Healthcare providers should recommend RSV vaccines to their eligible patients, as well as discuss what other vaccines they will need this fall to help prevent respiratory infections.
“The CDC has updated its RSV vaccination recommendation for older adults to prioritize those at highest risk for serious illness from RSV,” Mandy Cohen, M.D., M.P.H., noted in the CDC release. “People 75 or older, or between 60-74 with certain chronic health conditions or living in a nursing home should get one dose of the RSV vaccine to provide an extra layer of protection.”
The end of June also saw the CDC update its 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccines and updated 2024-2025 flu vaccines to protect against severe COVID-19 and flu this fall and winter.
“It is safe to receive COVID-19 and flu vaccines at the same visit. Data continue to show the importance of vaccination to protect against severe outcomes of COVID-19 and flu, including hospitalization and death,” the CDC release noted. “In 2023, more than 916,300 people were hospitalized due to COVID-19 and more than 75,500 people died from COVID-19. During the 2023-2024 flu season, more than 44,900 people are estimated to have died from flu complications.”
The CDC release then went into more detail about the updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine recommendations.
“The CDC recommends everyone ages 6 months and older receive an updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine to protect against the potentially serious outcomes of COVID-19 this fall and winter whether or not they have ever previously been vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine,” the CDC release noted. “Updated COVID-19 vaccines will be available from Moderna, Novavax, and Pfizer later this year. This recommendation will take effect as soon as the new vaccines are available. The virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, is always changing and protection from COVID-19 vaccines declines over time. Receiving an updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine can restore and enhance protection against the virus variants currently responsible for most infections and hospitalizations in the United States. COVID-19 vaccination also reduces the chance of suffering the effects of Long COVID, which can develop during or following acute infection and last for an extended duration. Last season, people who received a 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine saw greater protection against illness and hospitalization than those who did not receive a 2023-2024 vaccine. To date, hundreds of millions of people have safely received a COVID-19 vaccine under the most intense vaccine safety monitoring in United States history.”
The CDC release then went into more detail about the updated 2024-2025 flu vaccine recommendations.
“The CDC recommends everyone 6 months of age and older, with rare exceptions, receive an updated 2024-2025 flu vaccine to reduce the risk of influenza and its potentially serious complications this fall and winter,” the CDC release noted. “The CDC encourages providers to begin their influenza vaccination planning efforts now and to vaccinate patients as indicated once 2024-2025 influenza vaccines become available. Most people need only one dose of the flu vaccine each season. While CDC recommends flu vaccination as long as influenza viruses are circulating, September and October remain the best times for most people to get vaccinated. Flu vaccination in July and August is not recommended for most people, but there are several considerations regarding vaccination during those months for specific groups: Pregnant people who are in their third trimester can get a flu vaccine in July or August to protect their babies from flu after birth, when they are too young to get vaccinated. Children who need two doses of the flu vaccine should get their first dose of vaccine as soon as it becomes available. The second dose should be given at least four weeks after the first. Vaccination in July or August can be considered for children who have health care visits during those months if there might not be another opportunity to vaccinate them. For adults (especially those 65 years old and older) and pregnant people in the first and second trimester, vaccination in July and August should be avoided unless it won’t be possible to vaccinate in September or October. Updated 2024-2025 flu vaccines will all be trivalent and will protect against an H1N1, H3N2 and a B/Victoria lineage virus. The composition of this season’s vaccine compared to last has been updated with a new influenza A(H3N2) virus.”
