United States: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has narrowed its recommendations to which older adults should receive vaccination against RSV or respiratory syncytial virus.
As per the new rules, only adults aged 75 and above or those aged 60 to 74 must receive the shots, who are said to be at the highest risk.
More about the news
The reports suggest that vaccinations, although, raise a slight chance of receiving rare side-effects, which may also lead to paralysis or death.
As the US data showed, RSV is a disease that spreads on a seasonal basis and leads to hospitalization among older adults to the numbers of 60,000 to 160,000 annually, as ivescience.com reported.
RSV vaccination approval history
The first-ever RSV vaccine received approval from the US regulatory agency last year. Three vaccines have been approved so far for use by people 60 and older: GSK’s Arexvy, Pfizer’s Abrysvo, and Moderna’s mResvia.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has concluded that “based on currently available evidence,” the proven pros of RSV vaccines do not outweigh the potential harms.
Therefore, the CDC has also mentioned that all adults should receive one of these RSV vaccines only after consultation with their healthcare providers.
The CDC explained, considering that “providers should continue to have flexibility in offering RSV vaccine to patients they assess to be at increased risk for severe disease even if they do not fall into an explicitly named risk category while reporting in a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
More about the updated recommendations
The recently updated recommendations were implemented given the exponential rise in Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) cases linked to the vaccines, as reported by ivescience.com.
In GBS, an individual feels a tingling numbness, which progresses to paralysis. Moreover, in most cases, the side effect could also affect muscles supporting breathing and thus be life-threatening.
Moreover, the earlier recommendations were not direct, and the experts found them a bit “confusing and time-consuming” to implement.