ACIP Votes to Recommend Adults Aged 50-59 Who Are at High Risk for RSV Receive Vaccine

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to “recommend that adults aged 50 to 59 years who are at high risk for severe RSV disease” be included in the recommendations for receiving an RSV vaccine. Healio has the news.

This recommendation will be sent to CDC chief of staff Matthew Buzzelli in the absence of a CDC director. Susan Monarez has been nominated to lead the agency, but a Senate confirmation hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Current CDC recommendations “say that all adults aged 75 years or older, and anyone aged 60 to 74 years with a risk factor for severe RSV, should get vaccinated against RSV.” Findings presented this week, however, “showed that a person’s risk for death can triple in the 12 months after an RSV-associated acute viral infection.” People aged 50 to 59 have “similar underlying medical conditions as people aged older than 60.”

The ACIP also “discussed the potential need for RSV revaccination.” Some data showed a T-cell boost after a second RSV vaccine dose, showing a potential benefit.

Stat News also reported that there is a possibility that HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would have to sign off on the committee’s recommendations, according to legal experts. They also said that around 30% of U.S. adults aged 50 to 59 would qualify for the vaccine under these recommendations.