RSV Vaccine Effectiveness at Reducing Hospitalization in the Elderly
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Reviewed & Translated by Dat Tien Nguyen, B.A, ScM.
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Posted on February 11th, 2026
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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection has become more prevalent in the recent years post pandemic. For elderly patients, these RSV infections can lead to fatal outcomes. There exists a vaccine to prevent RSV infection, and it has been proven to be highly effective at preventing RSV-related lower respiratory tract. To further explore the benefit of this vaccine, a study was conducted to investigate its ability to prevent hospitalization in the elderly.
Funding Source(s): Pfizer
The clinical trial included around 130,000 participants with an average age of 69.4 years old, with 21.1% of them being older than 75 years old. Due to their advanced age, 42% of them are living with at least one chronic disease: 7.3% of them were affected with chronic lung disease, and 2.6% affected with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. During the previous flu season, 80% of them had been vaccinated, and the same amount of participants were vaccinated during the 2024-2025, before entering the study.
The participants were randomly assigned to be vaccinated with either RSVpreF vaccine or a placebo. The vaccine contains the stabilized pre-fusion form of the F glycoproteins expressed on the viral particle surface. Following the participants for 26 weeks, the researchers found that those who were immunized with the RSVpreF vaccine had a 83.3% lower risk of hospitalization due to RSV-related respiratory tract infection. Furthermore, the researchers observed that the RSVpreF vaccine also reduced the risk of hospitalizations due respiratory & cardiovascular disease. This suggests that RSV infection can exacerbate existing conditions or increase the risk of triggering a respiratory or cardiovascular incident.
Funding Source(s): Pfizer
The clinical trial included around 130,000 participants with an average age of 69.4 years old, with 21.1% of them being older than 75 years old. Due to their advanced age, 42% of them are living with at least one chronic disease: 7.3% of them were affected with chronic lung disease, and 2.6% affected with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. During the previous flu season, 80% of them had been vaccinated, and the same amount of participants were vaccinated during the 2024-2025, before entering the study.
The participants were randomly assigned to be vaccinated with either RSVpreF vaccine or a placebo. The vaccine contains the stabilized pre-fusion form of the F glycoproteins expressed on the viral particle surface. Following the participants for 26 weeks, the researchers found that those who were immunized with the RSVpreF vaccine had a 83.3% lower risk of hospitalization due to RSV-related respiratory tract infection. Furthermore, the researchers observed that the RSVpreF vaccine also reduced the risk of hospitalizations due respiratory & cardiovascular disease. This suggests that RSV infection can exacerbate existing conditions or increase the risk of triggering a respiratory or cardiovascular incident.