by Saul Anuzis, President 60 Plus – The American Association of Senior Citizens

It’s no secret to anyone over a certain age that your body changes as the years go by. While we’re all familiar with some of the more obvious changes (like hair loss and weight gain), did you know that your immune system also ages with you? That’s why older people are more susceptible to a variety of illnesses. The good news is that many illnesses, like pneumococcal disease, COVID-19, and RSV, can be prevented with vaccinations, but only if those vaccines are readily available and accessible. To help protect communities in North Carolina from communicable illnesses, public health officials should take action to make pneumococcal disease vaccines more accessible for older adults.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a subcommittee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is a team of medical and public health professionals who develop recommendations on the use of vaccines in the U.S. Their recommendations have a significant impact on what vaccines North Carolinians can access and when. The current recommendation for pneumococcal vaccination, which can help prevent bacterial pneumonia, is for those aged 65 and above.

However, ACIP has indicated interest in lowering the age requirement for pneumococcal vaccines to 50. This has the potential to ensure that more North Carolinians, especially those at greater risk for contracting the disease, have a chance to be better protected. In 2022, only 30.3% of North Carolinians between 18 to 64 at increased risk for pneumococcal disease received a vaccine, leaving many vulnerable to a vaccine-preventable illness

Lowering the age recommendation for pneumococcal disease is critically important when considering the consequences for ethnic and racial minority populations. Vaccine rates are historically low in these communities, and pre-existing conditions often increase the potential for community members to contract pneumonia at a younger age. Across the U.S., only 53.5% of Black, 41% Hispanic, and 50.2% of Asian Americans are vaccinated against pneumococcal disease.

If you’ve ever known anyone who has had pneumonia, you know this is not a disease to be taken lightly. It can progress quickly, requiring extreme treatments like intubation and long-term rehabilitation. Pneumococcal disease lands approximately 150,000 Americans in the hospital each year – and about 5-7% of those patients don’t survive. Those rates are higher the older the individual is, or if they have pre-existing comorbidities.

Different vaccinations treat different strains of pneumococcal disease. By making all FDA-approved pneumococcal vaccines available to people aged 50 and up, we can make a better dent in preventing this disease.

Sadly, we’ve also seen the reverse for communicable illnesses in recent years. Take whooping cough and measles. Once rare, these diseases are now raging in some parts of the country – North Carolina included. Vaccines prevent both of these diseases from spreading, but due to lack of uptake, more people are getting sick. We can’t let that happen with pneumonia.

Everyone deserves access to the best healthcare options, no matter their age. North Carolina patients and doctors should have choices when it comes to which vaccines are most appropriate based on medical history, risk factors, and other personal considerations.

I urge members of ACIP to take the welcome step during this cold and flu season and expand access to all FDA-approved pneumococcal vaccines to those age 50 and older to prevent the spread of pneumococcal disease. It will be a game changer for the aging immune systems of middle aged and older individuals in North Carolina and across the country.