Older adults who receive the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine are 75% less likely to be hospitalized from RSV compared to those who are not vaccinated, according to a research letter in JAMA. By analyzing electronic medical record data from October 2023 to March 2024 for adults aged 60 years and older who were hospitalized with an acute respiratory illness, researchers selected a control group of 2,611 patients—who tested negative for RSV, COVID-19, and influenza—and a group of 367 patients who tested positive for RSV alone. In total, 2.5% of patients who tested positive for RSV and 9.8% of controls were vaccinated against RSV. The vaccine’s effectiveness against RSV-associated hospitalization was 75% (95% confidence interval, 50%-87%).
New vaccine recommendations: The RSV vaccine is relatively new. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its insight and recommended that all adults aged 75 and older receive the RSV vaccine as well as those aged 60-74 with risk factors. Read more on RSV hospitalizations from the JUCM archives: COVID-19 and RSV: Coinfection Requiring Hospitalization