However, in a study published Sept. 18 in JAMA Network Open looking at 14.8 million seniors, researchers at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found that the vaccines were highly effective, reducing the chances of an RSV-related hospitalization or death by around 80%.
Vaccines protect against RSV in older adults
Since the rollout, a handful of studies have looked at the effectiveness of these two vaccines, which are made by GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. “These have all—very interestingly, and comfortingly—really paralleled and mimicked the exact results of the efficacy trials,” says Walsh, who was not involved in the new study. But this new work examines the entire U.S. population over 65 who are enrolled in Medicare, which is “vastly greater than the other studies,” he says. So these results are particularly reassuring. In general, both vaccines performed similarly.
The study found that people who received an RSV vaccine were more likely to live in affluent areas and more likely to have been vaccinated for flu and COVID, raising the question of whether their higher survival numbers have to do with access to health care. However, when researchers performed an analysis meant to test for whether access to health care was a factor, the high efficacy of the RSV shot remained. “That was nice to see, that the data really was identical,” says Walsh.
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