The CDC’s vaccine policy advisors haven’t budged on new RSV guidance, remaining unconvinced that younger adults at higher risk of disease should get the shot.
That was the takeaway from a presentation Thursday to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), reviewing updated interpretations of new vaccine data. Members of the RSV vaccine work group doubled down on the existing guidance that younger, immunocompromised adults don’t have to get the vaccines.
“Additional data are necessary before moving to vote on an RSV vaccine recommendation for adults aged [less than] 60,” the group concluded, saying that new data aren’t conclusive that people “with the most severe forms of immune compromise will benefit from vaccination.”
CDC medical officer Michael Melgar said that work group members also hoped to have more certainty on the level of increased risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome, a known neurological side effect of some vaccines. Data reviewed by the committee showed an increase of the side effect in adults 65 and older after either Pfizer or GSK’s vaccine, though cases remained rare.
In June, ACIP declined to recommend vaccination for patients 50 to 59, despite FDA approval of GSK’s vaccine for use in that group. And earlier this week, Pfizer received approval to vaccinate people 18 to 59 with chronic conditions that put them at higher risk for severe infection. Without an ACIP recommendation, those shots may not be covered by insurance.
The work group stood firm on updated agency guidance for older Americans, which was tweaked over the summer to specify that adults 60 to 74 who are at higher risk for severe infection and anyone 75 and older get the shots. In the vaccines’ first season, the CDC advised that anyone who was 60 and older should consult with a healthcare provider before getting one.
The public health agency hoped that the new advice would be clearer for patients and health care providers after 24% of adults 60 and older received the vaccine in its first season. But as of the beginning of October, far fewer vaccine prescriptions have been written, validating fears that the new guidance would lead to less uptake.