It’s that time of year again when children return to school, the weather gets cooler, and one should remember to get the appropriate vaccines for fall 2024. The three most important ones for this fall are the RSV, seasonal flu, and COVID vaccines

When you’re pulling out the coats, sweaters, and gloves for the winter, you should also remember to get vaccinated.

Ignoring the false claims about vaccines from the anti-vaccine world, the appropriate vaccinations that you should get depend on your age, overall health, and some other factors.

This article will review the three important vaccines and who should get them.

RSV vaccines for Fall 2024

Although most people know about these vaccines, the RSV vaccine is a newcomer since it was only approved in July 2023.

The respiratory syncytial virus is a common, contagious virus that causes respiratory tract infections. It is a single-stranded RNA virus, and its name is derived from the large cells known as syncytia that form when infected cells fuse.

It usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. But it can cause severe lung infections, especially in infants, older adults, and people with serious medical problems. For seniors, RSV infections are dangerous as their immune systems weaken.

RSV spreads from person to person through:

• The air by coughing and sneezing.
• Direct contact, such as kissing the face of a child who has RSV.
• Touching an object or surface with the virus, then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes before washing your hands.

RSV can sometimes lead to pneumonia (infection of the lungs) and congestive heart failure (when the heart can’t pump blood and oxygen to the body’s tissues).

According to the CDC, each year in the United States, RSV leads to approximately—

• 2.1 million outpatient visits among children younger than 5 years old
• 58,000 hospitalizations among children younger than 5 years old
• 177,000 hospitalizations among adults 65 years and older
• 14,000 deaths among adults 65 years and older

There are three vaccines currently approved for use in the USA:

• Pfizer’s Abrysvo.
• GSK’s Arexvy.
• Moderna’s mRESVIA.

The CDC recommends a single dose of RSV vaccine for all adults age 75 and older, as well as for those ages 60 to 74 years at increased risk for severe RSV disease. All three of the above vaccines are approved for use in older adults.

The CDC also recommends one dose of maternal RSV vaccine during weeks 32 through 36 of pregnancy, administered from September through January. Pfizer Abrysvo is the only RSV vaccine recommended during pregnancy.

There is also a pediatric RSV vaccine, Beyfortus, recently approved by the FDA and recommended by the CDC for all infants under 8 months of age. The CDC also recommends the vaccine for children between the ages of 8 and 19 months who are at increased risk of severe RSV disease.

Seasonal flu vaccine

The seasonal flu vaccine protects against four circulating strains of influenza virus — an influenza A(H1N1) virus, an influenza A(H3N2) virus, and two influenza B viruses. Despite the claims of some people, the CDC estimates that approximately 12,000 – 52,000 deaths occur annually from flu between 2010 and 2020. And not all of those who are harmed are elderly or children, during some flu pandemics, healthy adults are killed.

The seasonal flu vaccines (depending on the version) should be given to anyone older than 6 months. For people 65 years and older, three flu vaccines are preferentially recommended over standard-dose, unadjuvanted flu vaccines.

COVID vaccines for fall 2024

Finally, we need to discuss the COVID-19 vaccines. There are three versions available:

• The FDA recently approved updated Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccines that are effective against the new KP.2 variant of COVID.
• The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine is a more traditional protein subunit vaccine and is effective against the JN.1 variant (but has cross-reactivity to the KP.2 variants).

According to the CDC, the vaccine schedule for the current updated Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines is complicated:

• Children, 6 months to 4 years old, should receive at least one dose of one of the COVID vaccines. However, the schedule includes additional doses depending on whether or not they had a prior COVID vaccination and which vaccine they received.
• Children, 5-11 years old, should receive one dose of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.
• Everyone 12 years or older should get one dose of the updated Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, one dose of the Novavax vaccine, or two doses of the Novavax vaccine if you’ve never been vaccinated against COVID.

Summary

It’s time to protect yourself and your loved ones against all of these diseases that are still dangerous and can be deadly. The RSV, COVID, and flu vaccines are safe and effective, so there is no excuse. Vaccines save lives.