On June 23, 2022, the Alliance submitted comments to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for their June 22 – 23 meeting.

The Alliance’s comments focused on the items on the agenda pertaining to older adults including influenza, pneumonia, and RSV. The comments applauded ACIP for their unanimous vote on June 23rd in favor of a recommendation for adults ages 65 and over to preferentially receive an enhanced influenza vaccine. Additionally, we recommended that ACIP:

• Clarify guidance on who should receive the new pneumococcal vaccines, and reduce the age recommendation to ages 50 and older to ensure that more older adults receive the strongest and most widespread protection, and
• Look to incorporate recommendations for older adults as well as the pediatric population once RSV vaccines have been approved by the FDA, and look at the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic to see if the infrastructure that was built and the dissemination strategies deployed could be expanded to other ACIP-recommended vaccines.

Read the full comment letter here.