![\"Senior](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/senior-woman-getting-covid-vaccine-6717193.jpg\" "\\"Senior")
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Respiratory syncytial virus can cause severe illness in older adults (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n
Millions more older Britons will be eligible for a key\u00a0 vaccine<\/a> from April as the NHS<\/a> expands access. The\u00a0immunisation programme for\u00a0respiratory\u00a0syncytial\u00a0virus\u00a0(RSV) has been expanded to include people aged 80 and over. The move represents \u201canother important step to protect those most at risk\u201d, officials said. RSV\u00a0is a common cause of coughs and colds and usually gets better by itself, but can cause severe illness for babies and older adults.\u00a0<\/p>\n A jab for the illness was initially rolled out in September 2024 for adults turning 75 and women from 28 weeks of pregnancy to protect their newborn baby. There was also a one-off catch-up programme launched targeting those aged 75 to 79. Following advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), officials have announced that adults aged 80 and over and all residents in care homes for the elderly will be offered the jab from April 1.<\/p>\n Read more: NHS alert for common blood pressure medication \u2014 pharmacies \u2018pushed to the edge’ <\/a><\/p>\n Duncan Burton chief nursing officer for England said:\u00a0\u201cNHS teams have already delivered 2.5 million RSV vaccinations in just 17 months, protecting older people and newborns from serious illness such as bronchiolitis and pneumonia.<\/p>\n \u201cThis helped reduce RSV-related hospital admissions from 75- to 79-year-olds by a third last winter \u2013 which is why I\u2019m delighted this offer of protection is being expanded to over 80s and care home residents, helping keep even more people out of hospital and in better health.<\/p>\n \u201cThis move is a shot in the arm for the NHS\u2019s preparations for next winter<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will be reminding those aged 75\u201379 who have not yet come forward, and inviting newly eligible patients from April, well ahead of winter \u2013 and I strongly urge everyone eligible to take up this potentially life-saving vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n The change also means eligible patients will be able to have the RSV jab alongside a vaccine for Covid<\/a>-19 this spring.<\/p>\n Having both\u00a0vaccines\u00a0during the same appointment has been encouraged, particularly for care home<\/a> residents and older people, to boost uptake before\u00a0RSV\u00a0rates increase in the winter months.<\/p>\n Health Minister Stephen Kinnock said: \u201cBy expanding this life-saving\u00a0vaccination\u00a0programme to also include adults aged 80 and over and residents in care homes for older adults, we are taking another important step to protect those most at risk.<\/p>\n Read more: Next pandemic could be triggered at any moment \u2014 ‘we are just sitting ducks’ <\/a><\/p>\n RSV is a common cause of coughs and colds in winter (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n \u201cI am pleased to accept the advice from the Joint Committee on\u00a0Vaccination\u00a0and Immunisation, which has carefully reviewed the evidence showing the clear benefits of extending this programme.<\/p>\n \u201cI would encourage everyone who becomes eligible for the\u00a0RSV\u00a0vaccine\u00a0from April to come forward and get\u00a0vaccinated\u00a0as soon as they have been invited to do so by their GP.\u201d<\/p>\n The change comes after analysis published last March by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) showed that there were 30% fewer hospital admissions among 75 to 79-year-olds as a result of the\u00a0RSV\u00a0vaccine.<\/p>\n Dr Conall Watson, consultant epidemiologist at UKHSA, said: \u201cRSV\u00a0lung infection is less well known than Covid<\/a> or flu but for older adults it puts thousands in hospital<\/a> each year with a risk to life.<\/p>\n \u201cAnalysis has shown those aged 75 to 79 already getting the\u00a0vaccine\u00a0are much less likely to be hospitalised.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the evidence is clear that the\u00a0RSV\u00a0vaccine\u00a0offered to pregnant women is providing excellent protection to babies. When you are offered the\u00a0vaccine, don\u2019t hesitate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Respiratory syncytial virus can cause severe illness in older adults (Image: Getty) Millions more older Britons will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[5202,44825,59,102,151306,104,151305,56,54,55,4884],"class_list":{"0":"post-406031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-care-homes","9":"tag-elderly-care","10":"tag-gb","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-immunisation-programme-expansion","13":"tag-nhs","14":"tag-rsv-vaccination","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom","18":"tag-vaccine"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Asian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/asian-elderly-get-cold-coughing-6717210.jpg\" "\\"Asian")
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