More Seniors Seek Out Vaccines

Older people, often worst hit by illness, move to protect themselves amid new evidence about vaccination benefits

- Paula Span

NEW YORK - Ms. Kim Beckham, an insurance agent in Victoria, Texas, had seen friends suffer so badly from shingles that she wanted to receive the first approved shingles vaccine as soon as it became available, even if she had to pay for it out of pocket.

Her doctor and several pharmacies turned her down because she was below the recommended age at the time, which was 60.

So, in 2016, she celebrated her 60th birthday at her local CVS pharmacy. "I was there when they opened," Ms. Beckham recalled. After her Zostavax shot, she "felt really relieved."

She has since received the newer, more effective shingles vaccine, as well as the pneumonia shot, the respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, annual flu shots and all recommended Covid-19 vaccinations.

Some older people are very eager to be vaccinated.

Ms. Robin Wolaner, 71, a retired publisher in Sausalito, California, has been known to badger friends who delay getting recommended shots, sending them relevant medical studies. "I'm sort of hectoring," she acknowledged.

Ms. Deana Hendrickson, 66, who cares daily for three young grandsons in Los Angeles, sought an additional MMR shot, though she was vaccinated as a child, in case her immunity to measles was waning.

For older adults who express more confidence in vaccine safety than younger groups, the past few months have brought some welcome research. Studies have found important benefits from a newer vaccine and enhanced versions of older ones, and one vaccine may confer a major bonus that nobody had foreseen.

OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE