Dan Luu

I've been dealing with a bad case of RSV. At one point, I said to someone, "at least this will help my immunity", but then I looked it up and it turns out getting RSV doesn't seem to give you much immunity to RSV. So much for that!

https://academic.oup.com/jid/article-abstract/163/4/693/944323

And there's a theory that covid somehow reduces people's immunity to RSV below the already low levels found in pre-covid studies. Also, I wonder why the RSV vaccine is only approved for older adults and infants?

Mar 26 at 12:02amWeb
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧1d ago

@danluu hey, this is the exciting content, at least for me!

my understanding is that vaccine approval is a cost/benefit decision based on how expensive a trial would be; so for RSV they only did it for "at risk" populations and didn't bother doing it for adults. there is definitely irrational decisionmaking in there, but i don't know who to blame

Show threadChristie Koehler1d ago
@whitequark @danluu FWIW I was able to get the RSV vaccine and I’m not a senior nor an infant but have other health issues. My pulmonologist ordered it. I don’t know what’s required to establish eligibility for adults, but it could be worth a conversation!
Show threadCarter1d ago
@danluu Iirc, there are rsv vaccines for infants. They’re pretty new. We had a kid in 2023 and, while we were in the hospital, one of the nurses said “do you want an rsv vaccine for your baby? We just got them in last week.”
Show threadBen Kimock1d ago
@danluu You should email [email protected] and maybe you'll be featured on the next TWiV clinical update: https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/?s=clinical%20update
clinical update | This Week in Virology

Show threadJustin Mason1d ago
@danluu as I understand it, the vaccines are restricted based on risk level -- RSV is more serious for people in those age ranges, and us adults are left to deal with it by ourselves :(