Do You Need to Get the RSV Vaccine?

Doctors and public health officials say many older adults should be getting the shot to avoid serious illness from a common virus

Rachel Nania,

Updated August 28, 2025

AARP

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En español

Published September 03, 2024

/ Updated August 28, 2025

Photo Collage: AARP (Source: Getty Images(2))

Many adults are in the habit of rolling up their sleeves each fall for their annual flu shot, and plenty have added a COVID booster to their routine. But there’s another seasonal vaccine worth knowing about.

It protects against RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus — a common bug that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms but can lead to serious illness in older adults and infants.

“You hear about something like RSV and you think, Oh, it’s a cold virus. If I have a cold, I’ll go on about my life. But the reality is, particularly in older people and in people who are immunocompromised, an RSV illness can be very severe,” says Kathleen Linder, M.D., an infectious disease physician and clinical associate professor of internal medicine at Michigan Medicine.

An estimated 110,000 to 180,000 U.S. adults age 50 and older are hospitalized each year due to RSV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The virus kills an estimated 14,000 adults 65 and older annually, says the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

“That is not insignificant,” says Jodie Guest, a professor and senior vice chair in the department of epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.

Here’s what you need to know about the RSV vaccine and whether you should get one for this year’s respiratory virus season.

Who should get the RSV vaccine?

The CDC says everyone 75 and older should get the RSV vaccine; so should adults ages 50 to 74 who are at increased risk of severe RSV.

Several factors can increase a person’s risk of complications from an RSV infection, including:

Chronic cardiovascular disease
Chronic lung or respiratory disease
End-stage renal disease
Some cases of diabetes
Neurologic or neuromuscular conditions that can make it harder to breathe
Chronic liver disease
Chronic hematologic conditions
Severe obesity
Moderate or severe immune compromise
Living in a nursing home

A 2024 study published in the medical journal JAMA found that the RSV vaccine was 75 percent effective in preventing hospitalization in its first season.

What if you got the vaccine last year?

Unlike the COVID-19 and flu vaccines, which are updated and recommended annually, protection from the RSV vaccine is longer-lasting.

So if you got the shot last year, you can sit this year out, says William Schaffner, M.D., an infectious disease specialist and professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

More data is needed to determine how long that protection will continue. Researchers and public health officials are monitoring for signs of waning immunity in clinical trial participants, who are a few years out from their vaccines.

“There’s definitely a possibility that this may be a vaccine that we recommend you get more than once in your lifetime,” Amadea Britton, M.D., an RSV expert and medical officer at the CDC, tells AARP. “But not yet.”

Which vaccine should you get?

Older adults have three options for the RSV vaccine: one from Moderna, mResvia (an mRNA vaccine); one from GSK, Arexvy; and another from Pfizer, Abrysvo.

If you’re wondering which you should get, Britton’s advice is to get what’s available at your pharmacy or clinic.

“We don’t have any preferential recommendation. Whatever is available is great; it will protect you from RSV,” she says. And in clinical trials, “all of them were shown to be safe and effective,” Britton adds.

What are the side effects?

The RSV vaccine is “a pretty well-tolerated vaccine, overall,” Linder says. Some people may experience temporary side effects, like injection-site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, joint stiffness/pain and nausea. These symptoms are generally a sign that the body is mounting an immune response, doctors say.

Serious side effects from the vaccine are uncommon, but federal researchers found that a small share of people who were vaccinated with Arexvy and Abrysvo went on to develop a rare neurological disorder known as Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS).

GBS can cause numbness, weakness or even paralysis. Researchers, however, have noted that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risk.

Can you get the RSV vaccine with your flu and COVID-19 shots?

If you’re planning on getting the RSV vaccine this year, as well as the annual flu and updated COVID-19 vaccines, know that you don’t need to make separate trips to the clinic or pharmacy. It’s safe to get them all at once, the CDC says.

There is a possibility you could experience higher rates of common side effects if you get all three at once, Britton says. “But we’ve seen that a lot of people still prefer to do it, just for convenience.”

Want to get the vaccines at different visits? When it comes to scheduling those shots, you don’t need to wait a specific amount of time between the appointments, the CDC says.

How much does it cost?

The RSV vaccine is available to Medicare beneficiaries at no cost under Medicare’s prescription drug plan, known as Part D. And private health plans are required to cover vaccines recommended by the CDC in the year after they are approved.

It’s always a good idea to check with your insurance provider to make sure the vaccine is included in the current plan year, and use an in-network provider to avoid out-of-network charges.

Are there other ways to protect yourself from RSV?

If you’re not eligible for the RSV vaccine but still want to avoid getting sick from the virus, there are some things you can do to lower the likelihood of catching it. Any kind of measures you would take to protect yourself from flu and COVID-19 also work against RSV, Linder says.

“So avoiding people who are sick, wearing a mask if you’re going to be in an area with a lot of people, washing your hands frequently — these are always a plus,” she says.

Taking steps to prevent an RSV infection can also lower the likelihood that you’ll experience other health issues, too, Linder says.

“After an RSV infection, people are at significantly higher risk for heart disease, for example. So just having a respiratory viral infection doesn’t only mean things are going to be affecting your respiratory system,” she explains.

Editor's note: This story, originally published September 3, 2024, has been updated to reflect new information.

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