Column: What seniors need to know about this fall’s vaccines

Dear Savvy Senior,

With a longtime vaccine critic leading the nation’s health departments, can you give me updated information on which vaccines are recommended for Medicare seniors this fall?

Medicare Mary

Dear Mary,

Even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is undergoing major cultural changes and upheaval, the overall fall vaccine recommendations for “older adults” resembles last year, with exception of the COVID shot. Here’s what you should know.

Flu shots for seniors

Just as they normally do, the CDC recommends a seasonal flu shot to everyone 6 months of age and older, but it’s especially important for older adults who have weaker immune defenses and have a greater risk of developing dangerous flu complications compared with younger, healthy adults.

For people age 65 and older, there are three different FDA-approved flu vaccines (you only need one) that are recommended over traditional flu shots. These include the Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent, Flublok Quadrivalent (recombinant, egg free vaccine) and Fluad Quadrivalent.

These vaccines are formulated to create a more robust immune response, helping the body produce more antibodies, which makes them more effective in preventing the flu.

All flu vaccines are covered 100% by Medicare Part B as long as your doctor, health clinic or pharmacy agrees not to charge you more than Medicare pays.

RSV shots

In addition to the flu shot, the CDC also recommends a single-dose of respiratory syncytial virus vaccine for all adults age 75 and older, as well as to high-risk adults between age 50 and 74. These are people who have chronic heart or lung disease, weakened immune systems, diabetes with complications, severe obesity, or who live in long-term care facilities.

RSV is responsible for 6,000-10,000 deaths and up to 150,000 hospitalizations each year.

The three RSV vaccines approved and available in the U.S. — Arexvy, Abrysvo and mResvia — are all covered under Medicare Part D prescription drug plans. But if you got an RSV shot last year or when it first became available in 2023, you do not need to get a second dose this year. For now only one dose of RSV vaccine is recommended.

COVID booster

If you haven’t had a COVID booster shot lately, the Food and Drug Administration recently approved the 2025-26 COVID‑19 vaccine, which has been updated to target the dominant strain.

This vaccine has been recommended for all adults age 65 and older and younger people who have a health condition that makes them vulnerable to severe COVID. But the new CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices just announced they are no longer recommending COVID shots. Instead, they are recommending adults age 65 and older and immunocompromised younger people to decide individually or with a doctor.

COVID still causes at least 40,000 hospitalizations and approximately 47,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. COVID shots are covered by Medicare Part B.

Pneumonia vaccines

If you haven’t been vaccinated for pneumonia, you also should consider getting the pneumococcal vaccine this fall. These vaccines are now recommended by the CDC to adults age 50 and older, instead of age 65, which was the previous recommendation.

Pneumonia causes a whopping 1.2 million people to visit medical emergency departments in the U.S. each year and causes roughly 50,000 deaths.

If you’ve never been vaccinated for pneumonia, the PCV20 (Prevnar 20) or PCV21 (Capvaxive) are the top choices because they cover the most common serotypes.

Medicare Part B covers pneumococcal shots, and you only need to get it once.

Side effects and safety

You should be aware all these vaccines can cause mild side effects like pain or tenderness where you got the shot, muscle aches, headache, fever or fatigue.

Also note it’s safe to receive these vaccines at the same time, but it may be best to spread them out a week or two because multiple vaccinations on the same day may cause increased side effects.

Send your questions or comments to questions@savvysenior.org or to Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070.