Adults aged 65 to 74 with chronic respiratory disease should be offered the RSV vaccine, the JCVI has advised.
In a report published this week, the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) revealed that a JCVI review found that RSV vaccine eligibility should be extended to people in this age group who have:
- chronic respiratory disease, including those with:
- poorly controlled asthma
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- bronchiectasis
- cystic fibrosis
- interstitial lung fibrosis
- pneumoconiosis
- bronchopulmonary dysplasia
- immunosuppression due to disease or treatment
Read more: No improvement on coverage, says RSV vaccine pharmacy pilot review
The report comes after the government accepted JCVI advise last month to extend the RSV vaccination programme to adults aged 80 and over and “residents in care homes for older adults”.
Following this, the JCVI decided that the “next focus for consideration” should be “developing an understanding of the incidence and disease burden in adults with underlying health conditions, stratified by age”.
Read more: Govt accepts advice to expand RSV vaccine eligibility
Its analysis found that for those who were immunosuppressed or had chronic respiratory disease, mortality was “concentrated in older adults”.
And in those aged 65 to 74 years, “elevated mortality was most evident in those with immunosuppression and chronic respiratory disease”, it added.
Read more: NHSE national RSV campaign points patients to pharmacies
It comes after NHS England (NHSE) launched a national RSV campaign in February to “support uptake of the vaccine”, part of which will direct patients to community pharmacies in areas where they are “commissioned to deliver” the vaccination.
Meanwhile, the government announced last April that NHSE would increase the number of community pharmacies offering the RSV vaccine in 2025/26.
The commissioner will “expand and support evaluation of the community pharmacy vaccination offer by up to 200 sites in identified target areas”, it said at the time.
