RSV Vaccine Added to List of 2024 Childhood Immunizations, Mpox Recommended for At-Risk Young Adults

In the agency’s updated vaccine recommendation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that children under the age of 19 months be vaccinated against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and that some young adults be vaccinated against monkeypox (mpox). The recommendations come as the highly contagious RSV spreads throughout the nation. According to the CDC, between 60,000 and 120,000 Americans are hospitalized every year with RSV, while between 6,000 and 10,000 adults 65 years and older die from it. The seasonal virus affects the lungs and causes pneumonia and bronchiolitis, in which the small air passages swell. The CDC’s new vaccine schedule recommends that infants receive their first RSV vaccine before the age of 6 months unless the child’s mother received the vaccine at least 14 days prior to delivery. Another dose, or the first for infants whose mothers received the vaccine while pregnant, should be given to infants at high risk of contracting the virus between the ages of 8 and 19 months....