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A study on the effectiveness of RSV vaccines published yesterday by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) claims they are 82 per cent effective in preventing people aged 75 to 79 from being admitted to hospital with infection.

The study, conducted alongside Nottingham University Hospitals and other NHS trusts, also revealed RSV vaccines are “highly effective” in preventing older people with a chronic respiratory condition and those living with immunosuppression from hospitalisation.

In April, NHS England said it would increase the number of pharmacies taking part in its respiratory syncytial virus vaccines pilot from 50 to as many as 200 in 2025-26.

Twenty-five pharmacies in Mid and South Essex and North-East Essex integrated care boards were commissioned to provide the vaccine in August last year, shortly before two RSV vaccination schemes, one for older adults and a maternal programme, were introduced to the NHS vaccination schedule.

Under the scheme for older adults, people turning 75 can get vaccinated and there is a “one-off catch-up campaign” for adults aged 75 to 79.

The maternal vaccination programme is offered to women from 28 weeks of pregnancy to protect newborns at higher risk of severe illness from RSV.

Another study, Vaccination in Pregnancy and RSV Hospitalisation in Infants in the UK, published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, found the maternal RSV vaccine was 72 per cent effective in preventing infants needing hospital treatment when their mothers were vaccinated over 14 days before delivery.

According to the UKHSA, the older adults programme reached 62.9 per cent of people as of 30 June 2025, an increase on 60.3 per cent in March, while 20,051 of 36,657 women who gave birth in March this year received an RSV vaccine.

The UKHSA said the highest vaccine maternal coverage was among the Chinese ethnic group at 73.3 per cent while the lowest was among black and black British Caribbean women at 26.4 per cent.