I believe it’s approved for 60 and older only in Canada and the US.
Well, I’m far from reaching 60, but it still beat the crap out of me! LOL
Damn. I’ve gotten so used to thinking of everybody here as a grayhair that I’d forgotten you’re one of the youthful ones. Sorry!!! 
Good timing - I see the doc in 2 days and have been meaning to ask about whether I need another pneumonia shot (got one 7-8 years back due to being in a high risk group, and had a vague impression that I’d need another one). I’ll hopefully remember to ask about RSV shot at the same time.
I’ve never had pneumonia, despite a lifetime of asthma. I recall my daughter being wretchedly sick as an infant with what was most likely RSV. I suspect a case of that would well and truly knock me on my ass.
There are two distinct pneumonia shots: Pneumovax & Prevnar. I believe current thinking is to have both, but like a year apart, not together. Mine are now 6 & 7 years old and I recently did my annual checkup where their renewal was not brought up although several other vax renewals were discussed (and done shortly thereafter).
IIRC they eventually need renewal, but evidently the interval is more than 7 years. Please share whatever you learn from your visit.
Will do. I have no clue which one I had.
I have, the last time it started as viral and progressed to secondary bacterial. I had two courses of antibiotics plus prednisone and my normal symbicort for asthma to get it under control. I had my Prevnar shot last year.
Sounds like how my “bad colds” progress to a secondary infection, but luckily it’s only ever been bronchitis, not full on pneumonia. Bronchitis is unpleasant enough. I gather pneumonia makes you feel like you’ve been run over by a truck, for weeks.
I asked my doc if I was due for a second pneumonia shot (I had my first in my late 50s - earlier than most again due to the wheezing). Apparently not just yet, which is fine. I need to ask about the RSV shot though. I forgot to ask about that last time, but I see the doc again this week.
Do ask your doc. The guideline for (non-pregnant) adults is for ‘60 years and older, after discussing with their doctor’.
I had RSV last winter~wrung out and the cough lingered for weeks. I hope to never repeat that miserable month.
I am anxiously waiting the vaccine for people with asthma. I got RSV in 2022 and at one point I almost went to the ER. I just couldn’t breathe. This was before I knew about peak flow monitoring and all that. Actually it was before I was diagnosed with asthma. That was kind of the last straw that sent me running to the doctor. I didn’t know asthma had a cough variant.
I’m a little surprised that people with asthma weren’t included in the first group advised to get the vaccine~perhaps it’s a supply issue.
Uptake for adults has been slow. My pharmacist said I was the first dose he had given (I was 73 at the time). Medicare paid for it~its high cost might be another factor in the slow uptake.
Oh yeah, I was diagnosed in my 20’s and the cough was the thing that had me seeing the doctor. My son was diagnosed very young. I remember him trying to play with his friends and coughing until he would dry heave. That’s when we got a nebulizer and and preventative meds. We spend a lot of time in the ER with him.
RSV remains the most common cause of hospitalized infants, I believe. There are antibodies and vaccines, not just for those over sixty but infants and pregnant women at risk, such as with chronic lung disease. 
I had never even heard of RSV before, but I never had a kid before. The first time I heard about it was a letter from daycare talking about an RSV outbreak. My kid is crazy resilient to this stuff. Mom, on the other hand…
Worst vaccine I got. I’ve had them all.
The injection site hurt for a week. Red and swollen. I don’t know if the nurse accidentally hit a nerve or something. I had achy feeling allover.
No upper respiratory stuff tho’.
To clarify, the vaccine is recommended for all pregnant women “from 32 through 36 weeks gestational age for the prevention of lower respiratory tract disease (LRTD) and severe LRTD caused by RSV in infants from birth through 6 months of age”
The antibody (Beyfortis) is recommended for the babies, in particular if mom’s did not get the vaccine, with some debate if kids born to moms who were vaccinated should get too.
Supply of Beyfortis has been limited. Insurance coverage still being established.
I have seen mostly mild RSV in kids this year, but most everyone has it last year so mild this year was expected.
I don’t have kids so I had never heard of RSV either until a year or two ago. I turned 60 a few weeks ago and got the jab a couple days later. I am in the system at CVS so they knew all about me. They wouldn’t let me schedule until after my birthday.
It was a pretty rough vaccine as far as they go but certainly better that getting the actual virus. Unlike flu and covid, it’s a one timer so that’s nice.
I’m 65. Got the RSV vax back in Sept. Other than the poke of the needle into my arm there were exactly zero consequences, side effects, etc. Might’ve been saline for all I felt later.
I also got the RSV vaccine last fall. It’s hard to know whether there were side effects because I had three other shots at the same time. SOMEthing knocked me out for a day or so, might’ve been RSV, who knows.
I had RSV itself when I was 28 (I am now 63) and teaching kindergarten. I know this because our newborn son acquired it from me. I had the world’s least debilitating case, barely a headache let alone a cough, joint pain, or much of anything else. In contrast, the little guy stopped breathing, had to be rushed to the NICU or the moral equivalent, and was housed in an incubator for about 5 days. He was just three weeks old.
It was probably the scariest time of my life, and I would strongly urge anyone on the fence about whether to get the vaccine to consider this story.
My son recovered just fine and is now a happy healthy 35-year-old, but wow, this disease can be REALLY HORRIBLE for infants.
With almost anything in medicine, more detail is available. I certainly wouldn’t second guess a pediatrician here. The website linked, a few posts above, eventually gets around to saying^:
What
- Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection is a major cause of lower respiratory illness, particularly among infants, young children and older adults.
- In Canada, RSV causes yearly outbreaks of respiratory tract disease, usually starting in late fall and running through to early spring.
- Reinfections with RSV are common but illness is usually milder with subsequent infections.
- At present there is no vaccine available in Canada to prevent RSV. The only means of prevention is temporary passive protection with the monoclonal antibody preparation palivizumab (PVZ). PVZ contains antibody only against RSV.
Who
-
PVZ should be offered to:
- infants born at less than 30 weeks gestational age (wGA) and less than 6 months of age at onset of or during the RSV season
- children less than 24 months of age with chronic lung disease (CLD) of prematurity who require ongoing oxygen therapy within the 6 months preceding or during the RSV season
- infants less than 12 months of age at the onset of the RSV season with haemodynamically significant congenital heart disease (hsCHD) and
- infants born at less than 36 weeks gestational age and who are less than 6 months of age at onset of or during the RSV season and living in remote northern Inuit communities who would require air transport for hospitalization.
-
PVZ may also be considered for:
- infants born at 30 to less than 33 weeks gestational age and less than 3 months of age at onset of or during the RSV season and who are at high risk for exposure to RSV
- select children less than 24 months of age with severe chronic lung disease due to cystic fibrosis (CF) or other etiology who require ongoing oxygen therapy or assisted ventilation in the 6 months preceding or during the RSV season
- infants less than 12 months of age with haemodynamically significant chronic cardiopathy other than congenital
- children 12 to 24 months of age awaiting heart transplant or having received a heart transplant within 6 months of onset of the RSV season
- children less than 24 months of age who are severely immunocompromised
- healthy full term infants less than 6 months of age at the onset of or during RSV season living in remote Inuit communities with very high rates of hospitalization for RSV among term infants
- infants born at less than 36 weeks gestational age and less than 6 months of age living in other remote communities with high rates of hospitalization for RSV and where air transport would be required for hospitalization
- controlling an outbreak of RSV in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) when all other control measures have failed
-
PVZ has not been evaluated in children 2 years of age and older.
How
- The first dose of PVZ should be given at the onset of the local RSV season.
- A second dose of PVZ should follow at 21 to 28 days and the interval between subsequent doses is 28 to 35 days.
- The usual maximum number of doses is four.
- An additional dose should be given after cardiac bypass or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
- An additional dose may be considered in remote northern areas where RSV outbreaks may continue longer than is usual elsewhere.
- PVZ may be co-administered with any other live or inactivated vaccines.
Why
- RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia among infants and young children.
- PVZ is approximately 40 to 80% effective in preventing hospitalization, depending on age and underlying health condition.
^Canadian protocols don’t tend to differ much from the US, but national variations are possible, including drug names.