August 29, 2023

Vaccines Every Senior Should Consider

About Brookdale Senior Living

Brookdale Senior Living offers multiple care levels for seniors in more than 600 communities nationwide. Brookdale helps you find the right care plan for yourself or your loved one. With amenities such as transportation services, salons and private dining rooms and activities such as gardening, fitness classes and trivia nights Brookdale caters to a wide range of interests and needs.

Every fall, as the leaves change and temperatures begin to cool, you usually hear reminders to get your flu shot. That’s because cooler temperatures can weaken your immune system, strengthen the outer shells of viruses, making them more resilient and easier to spread from person to person.

But if you’re 65 or older, the flu shot is probably not the only vaccine you should be thinking about. August is National Immunization Awareness Month, so let’s talk about the other shots you should consider adding to your vaccination schedule. Think of vaccinations as an investment in your wellness—preventive care that may help you stay healthier. Our immune systems naturally tend to weaken over time, putting us at higher risk for certain diseases as we age.

Brookdale works with preferred pharmacy providers to provide access for our residents so they can stay up-to-date on their vaccinations. We host onsite vaccination clinics at all our communities, following and offering CDC-recommended vaccines for residents 65 years and older. Vaccines offered typically include influenza, COVID-19, Zoster (Shingles), Pneumococcal, RSV and TDAP. As new vaccinations are approved and become available, they are added as they become available to our pharmacy partners at our onsite vaccine clinics.

Brookdale is dedicated to partnering with our residents’ entire healthcare team in taking a proactive, preventative approach to health and wellness. Here's a little more about vaccinations that the CDC recommends for most adults 65 and older:

1. COVID-19

The primary two or three-dose immunization series, for those who have not been vaccinated for COVID-19, is still recommended for adults 65 and over. The initial monovalent Moderna and Pfizer BioNTech mRNA vaccines are no longer recommended and have been replaced with bivalent mRNA vaccines which protect against both the original strain of COVID-19 and the omicron variant.

A bivalent booster shot (Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech) is recommended for adults 65 and older.

2. Influenza

You probably already know that an annual flu shot is a must-have for older adults. If you are 65 or older, the CDC recommends getting a high-dose flu vaccine. There is a misconception that the vaccine has a higher dose of the virus in it, which could be dangerous for older adults with weaker immune systems. Actually, high dose really means the vaccine has four times the amount of antigen—the part of the vaccine that promotes antibody creation within the body—which helps the body’s immune system respond better to the vaccine. A high dose flu vaccine is 24 percent more effective in preventing the flu in individuals age 65 and older, relative to a standard-dose vaccine.

Flu season usually runs from November to March, so early fall is the best time to be vaccinated to give your body time to build up antibodies.

3. Shingles

Shingles, or herpes zoster, is a painful skin rash caused by the chickenpox virus, which remains dormant in most adults who had chickenpox as a child. According to the CDC, your risk for shingles increases as you get older, and almost 1 out of every 3 people in the United States will develop shingles sometime in their lifetime. While the painful blisters tend to clear up in two to four weeks, postherpetic neuralgia pain (PHN) can continue for months or even years.

The CDC recommends the shingles vaccine for adults 60 years and older and protection from the vaccine lasts about five years. Shingrix, the zoster vaccine, has been shown to be more than 90% effective in preventing shingles and PHN in adults over 50 years with healthy immune systems.

4. Pneumococcal

Here’s a vaccine fewer people know about. While you may not have heard of pneumococcal, you have probably heard of the infections you can develop from these bacteria, such as pneumonia, an infection of the lungs, and meningitis, an infection of the lining of the brain and spinal cord. The CDC reports that pneumococcal disease kills 18,000 adults 65 and older each year. A weakening immune system means that older adults are at greater risk, and can face more severe side effects, especially those who are managing chronic diseases.

There are four types of pneumococcal vaccines, so talk to your doctor about which one you should receive.

5. Tdap booster (Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis)

Chances are you had the DTaP vaccine (Diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, also known as whooping cough) as a child followed by the Tdap booster as a teen or adult. If you didn’t get a booster, you should get one now. This is especially important if you plan to spend time with an infant, as the bacteria that causes whooping cough is highly contagious and can be life-threatening for children younger than 12 months. The CDC recommends a booster every 10 years throughout your life, to protect against tetanus and diphtheria.

6. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)

An estimated 60,000 to 160,000 adults 60 years and older in the United States are hospitalized and 6,000 to 10,000 die each year due to RSV infections. The CDC anticipates the RSV vaccine will be available for adults 60 years and older in Fall 2023.

CDC recommends adults 60 years and older may receive a single dose of RSV vaccine, based on discussions between the patient and health care provider.

RSV vaccine may be given at the same time as other vaccines.

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