Pneumonia, COVID vaccine guidance changes for older adults

It started with a cough that wouldn’t go away.

Before she knew it, Karyne Jones was hospitalized with pneumonia in January 2018. Even after the bacteria cleared her body, it took her three months to recover from the symptoms.

At 63, she wasn’t eligible to receive the vaccine that would have protected her against pneumococcal pneumonia.

“I dodged a bullet, but that’s only because I was relatively healthy,” said Jones, now 70. “I think about the people who aren’t and how that would really compromise their system.”

This age barrier may change soon. On Wednesday, a panel with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted to lower the recommended age for older adults to get their first pneumococcal vaccine.

Panel members also voted to recommend an additional COVID-19 vaccine for people 65 and older. Here’s what older adults should know about the changes to the CDC panel’s recommendations.

Pneumococcal vaccine for middle-aged patients

On Wednesday, members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to lower the recommended age for the pneumococcal vaccine from 65 to 50 and older.

The vaccine, which older adults need only once, protects against pneumococcus bacteria, the leading cause of pneumonia in older adults, said Dr. Jiansheng Zhao, an internal medicine doctor in the SOMOS Community Care network.

Pneumococcal pneumonia kills about 1 in 20 older adults infected with the bacteria, according to the CDC.

Roughly 100 known strains of pneumococcus bacteria can also cause ear infections, meningitis and other infections. The most recent vaccine can protect against 20 of the most serious strains.

Lowering the recommended age for the vaccine will expand eligibility to people under 65 with health conditions that make them more likely to develop severe disease from the bacteria. Data from Wednesday’s meeting showed about 90% of people between 50 and 64 have at least one condition that puts them at risk.

The American Lung Association says adults who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, asthma, diabetes or chronic heart disease face a greater risk for pneumococcal pneumonia.

Expanding eligibility will also help address health disparities since racial and ethnic minorities are more likely than their white peers to have these chronic conditions, said Jones, who was hospitalized with the disease in 2018 and is president and CEO of the National Caucus and Center on Black Aging.

Access to the vaccine is “really important,” she said, “because of the risk factors we have in our community.”

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Get another COVID-19 vaccine, even if you got one this fall

ACIP members also voted to recommend adults 65 and older get a second dose of the updated COVID-19 vaccine this fall. Eligible patients should ask their provider the best time to take an additional dose. 

Health experts say older adults are more likely to experience the worst consequences of the virus: They’re more likely to develop more severe cases, be hospitalized and die.

Two-thirds of adult hospitalizations for COVID-19 occurred in people 65 and older, according to data presented at the meeting Wednesday. Experts hope an additional dose of vaccine will protect older adults against these outcomes.

Emergency department visits, deaths and COVID-19 cases have steadily declined since they peaked for 2024 in August, according to CDC data. However, health experts expect this trend won’t last long once people begin to travel for the holidays and colder temperatures force them to gather indoors, increasing the risk of virus transmission.

The CDC reported that KP.3.1.1 was the dominant COVID-19 variant circulating the U.S., accounting for more than 57% of all cases. The second most prevalent variant is XEC, which accounts for nearly 11% of cases.

RSV vaccine recommendations unchanged

ACIP members did not review the RSV vaccine, but health experts say it’s important for older Americans to get the shot if they haven’t done so already.

This is the second year that healthcare providers are offering vaccines to protect adults against RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, however, only 29% of eligible patients have gotten the vaccine, according to the CDC.

Experts say vaccine fatigue – when people tire of going for multiple vaccines yearly – may partly explain low uptake. Jones said the RSV vaccine is also relatively novel and older adults may not know they’re eligible.

“Two years ago, they weren’t even talking about RSV and now it’s there,” she said.

A study published last week suggests the vaccine protects older adults from the worst consequences of the illness. Researchers found the vaccine to be 80% effective against hospitalizations in people 60 and older, according to the report published last week in The Lancet.

The RSV vaccine is recommended for all adults 75 and older and adults 60 to 74 who have an increased risk for severe disease.

The shots aren’t needed every year. Federal regulators recommend a single dose of RSV vaccine, so if you were vaccinated last year, you won’t need another dose this year. Officials have said they will reevaluate if additional doses will be needed.  

RSV is the leading cause of hospitalizations among newborns and younger children, but it also strikes later in life, causing more than 177,000 hospitalizations and 14,000 deaths among older adults annually.

Jones said organizations like the National Caucus and Center on Black Aging are working hard to share accurate information about availability and promote community-wide access.

“We’re working on trying to get people to be more preventative with their healthcare instead of waiting for a problem,” she said. “That’s what vaccines do.”

Contributing: Karen Weintraub, .

Adrianna Rodriguez can be reached at adrodriguez@.com.