According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most nursing home residents haven’t received an updated COVID-19 vaccine or the new respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine.

COVID-19, influenza and RSV activity are still below levels seen last year at this time, according to the CDC. But only 35 percent of nursing home residents have gotten the updated COVID-19 vaccine, and just 10 percent had received an RSV shot.  

RSV can cause severe illness and death in older adults. The Food and Drug Administration estimated that the virus hospitalizes 60,000 to 160,000 people over age 65 each year and causes 6,000 to 10,000 deaths. 

This is the first year there’s been a vaccine available to prevent RSV– and there are two on the market. Arexvy, the shot from GlaxoSmithKline, was 94 percent effective against severe illness in older adults. Pfizer’s shot, called Abrysvo, was 86 percent effective against severe illness. 

Both shots are fully covered by Medicaid, Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage, and most private insurance plans.

Nursing homes are encouraged to collaborate with state, local and federal public health and long-term care pharmacy partners to address barriers contributing to low vaccination coverage, CDC said. 

Vaccine fatigue, inaccurate health information and vaccine hesitancy contribute to lack of vaccine demand, the CDC said. 

For the COVID-19 vaccine, lower uptake might be related to challenges to vaccine access, as well as cost and payment barriers associated with the vaccine’s commercialization, the agency said.  

Older people are also receiving messaging for multiple seasonal vaccines (in many cases three or four), and it can be overwhelming. The relative newness of the RSV shots may also confuse providers, who then give inaccurate information to their patients.

Another possible barrier is the CDC’s recommendation of “shared decisionmaking.” That means the vaccine was recommended only after a conversation between a patient and their provider, rather than a blanket recommendation like the one for flu shots.