Vaccines at Every Age: Are We Getting the Message Right?

When we think about vaccines, we often think about children.

Measles. Polio. Whooping cough. Diseases that once killed or disabled millions of children and that vaccination has helped bring under control in much of the world.

But vaccines matter throughout life.

For much of my professional life, vaccines meant getting them to people who had little access to them. I worked on vaccination programs in many countries, including Somalia, Liberia, Syria, Türkiye, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti, often in conflict affected and hard to reach communities. I also contributed to the response to the 2014 to 2016 West African Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. During COVID 19, I supported vaccination in more than 20 countries affected by humanitarian crises. I also researched COVID 19 vaccine resistance in the United States.

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In some places, vaccination meant driving hundreds of miles on muddy or barely accessible roads, maintaining the cold chain, and organizing campaigns in remote or insecure communities. And today, Ebola is again spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This time it is a strain for which there is no licensed vaccine or specific approved treatment, a reminder of what it means when the protection we often take for granted simply does not exist.

I have seen what measles can do to malnourished children, and how an outbreak can affect families and entire communities. Experiences like these teach you how precious vaccines are.

What About Vaccination Later in Life?

In wealthy countries, a vaccine may be available five minutes from home, yet many people still do not receive it. This matters even more as our populations age. This becomes particularly important later in life, when infections can have more serious consequences.

Vaccination is increasingly recognized as part of healthy aging. The World Health Organization emphasizes that vaccines matter throughout life and are an important part of healthy aging. Recommendations vary by country, but vaccines against infections such as influenza, pneumococcal disease, shingles, COVID 19 and, in some countries, RSV can become particularly relevant as we grow older. During the 2024 to 2025 flu season in the United States, CDC estimates that vaccination prevented 180,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 deaths. Adults 65 and older accounted for 81 percent of the estimated deaths prevented.

For an older person, avoiding serious infection or hospitalization can also help protect strength, mobility and independence. Vaccination belongs in our conversation about healthy aging.

But perhaps we need to change that conversation.

We already have decades of evidence that vaccines prevent serious disease and save lives. Repeating that message may not be enough. Fear, misinformation, distrust, cost, inconvenience and underestimating personal risk can all influence vaccination decisions.

We need to understand these barriers better and find messages that resonate. Perhaps that means talking not only about preventing disease, but about protecting what people value as they age: independence, family, community and the ability to keep living the life they enjoy.

Perhaps the next challenge is not proving again that vaccines work, but learning how to make their value meaningful at every age.