Adult RSV Vaccine: How Will Older Adults React to New Kid on the Block?

Delivering 3 vaccines to older adults is going to be a challenge this fall, says Dr William Schaffner.

The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved the world's first vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), this formulation targeting adults aged ≥60 years. The vaccine, GSK's Arexvy™, is the newest kid on the block and the third vaccine that older adults will have to roll their sleeves up for this upcoming fall. How will older adults in the US respond to receiving vaccines against influenza, COVID-19, and RSV? That is one question Patient Care Online asked William Schaffner, MD, a well-known infectious disease expert from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

"Will they respond with enthusiasm, or will they be more cautious? That remains to be seen, but certainly delivering 3 vaccines to an older population is going to be a challenge this fall," said Dr Schaffner.

More from the conversation follows below.


William Schaffner, MD, is medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, professor of preventive medicine in the Department of Health Policy, and professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, TN.

Twitter: @NFIDvaccines