A new report in Clinical Infectious Diseases found that the estimated effectiveness of the RSV vaccine against “respiratory illness and severe disease in adults aged 60 years and older was 92%.” CIDRAP has the news.
ACIP recommended that “all adults aged 75 and older and those aged 60 to 74 at high risk for severe RSV receive a single dose of the vaccine” in June 2024. Uptake has remained low, and by December, estimated U.S. coverage of RSV vaccines was only 34% among adults aged 75 and older.
The vast majority of participants in this study had chronic conditions, and 56.4% were aged 75 and older. The study also included “8,965 ED visits/hospitalizations for acute respiratory illness that included RSV testing. In total, 7.8% of patients were RSV-positive, among whom 0.3% had been vaccinated, compared with 3.6% of controls.” The vaccine effectiveness (VE) of the RSV patients with strict controls came out to 92%, and only lowered to 90% with the inclusion of broad controls.
The results indicate that the vaccine “has higher VE against severe outcomes than other current respiratory vaccines, including SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and pneumococcal vaccine.” Expansion of RSV vaccine recommendations to adults aged 50-59 remains “pending.”
