Vaccinated Older Adults Were Hospitalized With RSV Far Less Often

CATEGORY: IMMUNE HEALTH

For most people, RSV is a bad cold. Respiratory syncytial virus is what the initials stand for, and it comes around every winter. In adults past 60, particularly those carrying heart or lung conditions, it can travel down into the lungs and cause pneumonia. A U.S. analysis spanning two RSV seasons found that older adults who had received an RSV vaccine were about 82% less likely to be hospitalized with an RSV lung infection than those who had not.¹

Counting Backward From the Hospital Bed

The method starts with people already admitted. Older adults in hospital with respiratory symptoms were tested for RSV, and vaccination rates were then compared between the ones who tested positive and the ones who tested negative. That approach has a name, the test-negative design, and it is a standard way to judge a vaccine in everyday use rather than inside a trial. Everyone counted was sick enough to be admitted, which strips out much of the difference between people who seek care and people who do not. The tally came to 268 adults aged 60 and older testing positive and 1,041 testing negative, drawn from seasons running between December 2023 and February 2025. Seven of the 268 positives had been vaccinated. Among the 1,041 negatives, 143 had.¹

82.3%, With Room on Either Side

Vaccine effectiveness came out at 82.3%. Given how many people the analysis covered, the true value most likely sits somewhere between roughly 62% and 92%, which is a wide window. Protection looked broadly similar across age bands and among people managing other health conditions. The product studied was the adjuvanted RSVPreF3 vaccine, one of those approved for this age group. These are early results, and the researchers noted that fuller analyses covering more seasons are still to come.¹ A test-negative analysis watches real use, so what it yields is a link. It also cannot say what a vaccine will do for one particular person.

A Bigger Count Landed at 58%

A review pooling 36 real-world studies of RSV vaccination in older adults put protection against hospitalization in the same broad range.² A larger U.S. study did not. Across the same two seasons, among 6,958 hospitalized adults 60 and older, effectiveness came out near 58%, and it moved with the patient: about 56% in people with heart or blood-vessel disease against 80% in those without, and weaker again in people who were immunocompromised, meaning their immune defenses were blunted.³

Key Takeaways

• Across two seasons, older adults who had received the adjuvanted RSV vaccine were about 82% less likely to be hospitalized with an RSV lung infection than unvaccinated adults, with the plausible range running from roughly 62% to 92%.
• RSV usually reads as a cold. In adults 60 and older, especially those with heart or lung conditions, it can reach the lungs.
• These are early findings from an observational analysis, and a larger study over the same two seasons put effectiveness closer to 58%.

References

1. Ku JH, Qian L, Sy LS, et al. Real-world Effectiveness of Adjuvanted RSVPreF3 Vaccine in Preventing RSV-associated Lower Respiratory Tract Disease Hospitalization in Adults ≥60 Years of Age: Early Results From a Test-negative Design Analysis. Open Forum Infectious Diseases. 2026;13(5):ofag279. link
2. Trusinska D, Lee B, Ferdous S, et al. Real-world evidence on RSV vaccine uptake, effectiveness, and safety in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Regional Health–Europe. 2026;64:101623. link.
3. Surie D, Self WH, Yuengling KA, et al. RSV vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization among US adults aged 60 years or older during 2 seasons. JAMA. 2025;334(16):1442–1442. link.