Stephen I. Feller , 2025-04-17 22:05:00
April 17, 2025
2 min read
Key takeaways:
- A CDC committee voted to recommend that people aged 50 to 59 years be vaccinated against RSV disease.
- The recommendation will be sent to the CDC chief of staff for consideration.
A CDC committee has voted to expand its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine recommendation to include all people aged 50 to 59 years.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted unanimously, 14-0, with one abstention, to recommend that adults aged 50 years and older receive one of two available vaccines to prevent RSV infection.
A CDC committee voted to recommend RSV vaccines for people aged 50 years and older. Image: Adobe Stock
The recommendation will be sent to CDC Chief of Staff Matthew Buzzelli, who will consider whether to adopt the committee’s decision, a CDC spokesperson told Healio. A Senate confirmation hearing has not been scheduled for Susan Monarez, PhD, who the Trump administration nominated to lead the CDC in March and would ordinarily consider ACIP’s recommendation.
While the vote was unanimous, ACIP members raised questions about expanding recommendations for moderately to severely immunocompromised patients, as well as the possibility of revaccination for adults whose protection wanes years after receiving the shot.
“I don’t think I can say it enough [that] we need more studies including immunocompromised patients who are at highest risk for RSV disease — [this is] a call to action,” Mini Kamboj, MD, FIDSA, FSHEA, professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, said in comments after the vote, echoing other committee members who noted that more data is needed on who can benefit from the vaccines and for how long.
In 2023, when the first two RSV vaccines were approved, the CDC recommended that adults aged 60 years and older discuss them with their doctors.
Last year, the agency strengthened RSV vaccine recommendations, recommending them for all adults aged 75 years and older, as well as for people aged 60 to 74 years with risk factors for severe disease.
Findings presented this week at the ESCMID Global meeting showed that a person’s risk for death can triple in the 12 months after an RSV-associated acute viral infection, which is only the latest reason experts have looked to improve lagging RSV vaccine uptake.
The new recommendation is based partially on people aged 50 to 59 years having similar underlying medical conditions as people aged older than 60 years: Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, COPD, chronic bronchitis, chronic kidney disease, immunocompromising conditions and neurologic disorders all are common among both age groups, according to ACIP working group research.
The committee also considered data showing that for some people who receive an RSV vaccine at a younger age, neutralizing antibody immune response wanes over time, potentially decreasing clinical protection.
Although data presented to ACIP did not show a boost in neutralizing antibodies, some data showed a T-cell boost after a second RSV vaccine dose. The committee asked for more data to consider an appropriate revaccination interval and whether the immune response is sufficient to prevent severe disease.
“The big question, and where I think there’s some uncertainty, is really around revaccination, and that is urgent,” Jane Zucker, MD, MSc, adjunct professor at the SUNY Downstate School of Public Health in Brooklyn, said after the vote. “We need to get some additional data and clarity on what we can do … because obviously there will be a need for revaccination.”