Available to those eligible from 1st September 2024
From 1st September 2024, those who turn 75 and those aged 75 to 79 will be eligible for a free, one-off vaccine to protect them from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). RSV is an infectious disease of the airways and lungs.
RSV infection often causes symptoms like a cold, including:
- cough
- sore throat
- sneezing
- a runny or blocked nose
It can also make you become wheezy or short of breath and lead to pneumonia and other life-threatening conditions. There is no specific treatment, and most infections will get better by themselves. Every year thousands of older adults need hospital care for RSV, and some of them will die. RSV can be more severe in people with medical conditions such as heart or lung disease or a weakened immune system. RSV infection is common in young children but is most serious for small babies and for older people.
Eligibility
Everyone turning 75 years old on or after the 1 September 2024 will be offered a single dose of RSV vaccine. This is because older adults are more at risk of serious complications from RSV. You can still get the vaccine up to the day before you turn 80.
For the first year of the campaign, the vaccine will also be offered to those who are already aged 75 to 79 years on 1 September 2024 as part of a catch-up programme. If you are not yet 75 you will be invited for your vaccination once you turn 75. All pregnant women who are at least 28 weeks pregnant will be offered the vaccine via their midwife.
For individuals younger than 75 or 80 years or over you will not be eligible for the vaccine in accordance with JCVI guidance. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is an expert scientific advisory committee which advises UK Government on vaccination and immunisation matters. The government then responds to the advice of the JCVI and makes decisions on eligibility, the partnership have no control over the age criteria set.
Invitations
We will send you an SMS text message inviting you book your vaccine with a link to our online booking system.
We will invite those most vulnerable to book their vaccinations first and this will be in November. We will then invite patients in age order from 75-79. We envisage that those aged 79 will be contacted by the end of December at the latest.
Housebound patients will receive a home visit for their vaccination by early October from our home visiting service. This service is purely for patients who are physically unable to leave their home.