Health. European Immunization Week: Vaccination coverage among seniors remains insufficient

For this 2025 edition of European Immunization Week, from April 27 to May 3, the national theme is "vaccination of seniors." According to the Public Health France barometer, 83.7% of those surveyed said they were in favor of vaccination .

This membership, however, marks a slight decline among the oldest respondents, 83.5% among 55-64 year-olds and 85.5% among 65-75 year-olds, in 2023 compared to 88.6% and 90.3% in 2022. Figures which may explain, in part, the low level of vaccination among seniors.

Thus, according to the assessment of vaccination coverage in France in 2024, that of those aged 65 and over is insufficient for all vaccines.

• flu vaccination is recommended annually for all people aged 65 and over. Vaccination coverage for the 2024-2025 season remains low (54%) for those aged 65 and over. It is 47% for those aged 65-74 and 61% for those aged 75 and over;
• Vaccination against Covid-19 is also recommended annually. In this segment of the population, 65 years and older, vaccination coverage is estimated at only 30.2%;
• Diphtheria, tetanus, polio: a booster is recommended at age 65 and then every 10 years. For this DTP vaccine, coverage decreases with age: it is 50% for the booster at age 65, 44% for the booster at age 75, and 34% for the booster at age 85.
• It is also recommended that all adults at risk of severe pneumococcal disease be vaccinated. However, among those aged 65 and over, only 18.9% have received at least one dose of vaccine and 16.7% have received at least two doses of vaccine.
• Vaccination coverage among seniors is only 4% for shingles, vaccination against which is recommended for those aged 65-74.

Since 2025, the pneumococcal vaccine has been recommended for all people aged 65 and over, not just those at risk.

Another new feature, vaccination against RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) is also recommended for all people aged 75 and over and for those aged 65 to 74 with chronic respiratory and cardiac pathologies.

So many vaccines need to be added to those already recommended. In this context, how can we improve vaccination coverage in this particularly vulnerable segment of the population? ? "As the immune system becomes more fragile with age, the risk of developing certain serious complications increases. Vaccination is essential to reduce the risks of hospitalization and death for the most vulnerable people," pleads Public Health France.

In order to inform and raise awareness among seniors, the agency highlights the value of the prevention assessment, a system aimed at everyone at key stages of life, including those aged 60 to 65. Another system is a free medical consultation at age 65, which should allow for an assessment of one's health, including vaccinations.

In January 2025, the National Academy of Medicine pointed “a neglected duty of prevention” and advocated for vaccination of seniors to become a priority public health objective. "It increases active and independent life expectancy, prevents severe forms and complications of target diseases as well as post-infectious functional decline, reduces the economic burden associated with them, maintains herd immunity (in a family or institutional setting) and helps combat antibiotic resistance," she wrote.