Vaccines play an important role in protecting your health, particularly if you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Immunizations lower your chances of developing a disease and passing it on. They also reduce your risk of complications or severe illness if you do get sick.

In this article, we’ll discuss the specific vaccines that are recommended for people with COPD.

Recommended Vaccines for People With COPD

Living with COPD means you have a higher risk of getting viral and bacterial infections. Protecting yourself from vaccine-preventable diseases is an important part of managing your condition.

Current COPD guidelines recommend that people with COPD receive all age-appropriate vaccines to help reduce their risk of respiratory infections, COPD flare-ups, and other serious complications.

Influenza Vaccine

The flu is a common seasonal respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. The flu typically causes symptoms like fever, severe cough, and body aches.

The majority of people who get sick with the flu recover at home with supportive care. But for people with underlying health conditions like COPD, the flu can be serious.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between three million and five million people become severely ill from the flu each year. Between 290,000 and 650,000 people die from flu-related complications annually.

Research has shown that the influenza vaccine can help reduce hospitalizations and death in people living with COPD. Some studies also found that people with COPD who were vaccinated had significantly fewer exacerbations compared to people with the condition who weren’t vaccinated.

Getting a flu shot each year is the best way to protect yourself from the flu if you’re living with COPD. Influenza vaccines that contain live inactivated or killed viruses are most effective for older adults with COPD.

Flu vaccine protection fades over time, though, so it’s essential to go back for your vaccine every year. Doing so can help you prevent serious complications, hospitalizations, and death by reducing your chances of getting severely sick if you do catch the flu.

Pneumococcal Vaccine

Pneumococcal disease is caused by a type of bacteria that can lead to serious infections. Infections in the lungs can cause pneumonia. Those in the brain or spinal cord can cause meningitis. Infections in the bloodstream are called bacteremia.

Symptoms vary depending on the part of the body affected, but they may include breathing problems, high fever, and confusion. Pneumococcal pneumonia is one of the most common bacterial causes of hospitalizations among older adults in the United States.

Meningitis and bacteremia are more lethal but less common. One in every six older adults with meningitis and one in every eight adults with bacteremia die from these infections. Those who survive can face long-term complications like brain damage.

For people with COPD, the pneumococcal vaccination has been shown to reduce the rates of community-acquired pneumonia and COPD flare-ups. A large study also found that people with COPD or asthma who didn’t get the vaccine were about twice as likely to be hospitalized with pneumococcal pneumonia than those who were vaccinated.

The best way to prevent pneumococcal disease is to get vaccinated. People with COPD are advised to either receive one dose of pneumococcal conjugated vaccine 20 (PCV20) or one dose of PCV15 followed by PPSV23.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccine

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common virus that affects the upper and lower respiratory systems, including the throat, nasal passages, and lungs. Most people who get RSV have mild symptoms similar to a cold, such as coughing, headache, or fever.

But RSV can also become serious, especially for infants, older adults, and people with lung or heart disease. These people may develop complications like pneumonia or bronchiolitis (inflammation of the tiny airways that lead to the lungs), which can lead to severe cough and trouble breathing. In some cases, RSV infections can be life-threatening.

To prevent severe illness, people with COPD should get the new RSV vaccine — the prefusion F protein-based vaccine. The RSV vaccine is usually available seasonally starting around October. Many pharmacies offer this vaccine.

Tdap Vaccine

The Tdap vaccine prevents serious bacterial infections, including:

• Tetanus (lockjaw) — Causes muscles in the neck and jaw to become tight and stiff, which can make it hard to open your mouth, swallow, or breathe
• Diphtheria — Causes the back of the throat to develop a coating, which can make it harder to breathe and potentially lead to life-threatening complications
• Pertussis (whooping cough) — Causes extreme coughing fits that can affect your ability to breathe or consume fluids or food

Healthcare professionals recommend that everyone two months and older get vaccinated against these diseases. There are different vaccine types depending on your age and health needs.

The vaccine names use uppercase or lowercase letters to show the strength of each dose:

• Uppercase letters (like D in DTaP) indicate a full-strength dose.
• Lowercase letters (like d in Tdap) indicate a lower-strength, booster dose.

People with COPD who haven’t already been vaccinated should get the Tdap vaccine. Booster shots are recommended every 10 years to maintain immunity.

Shingles Vaccine

Shingles (also called herpes zoster) is an infection caused by the chickenpox virus — varicella-zoster. If you have had chickenpox before, the inactive virus is still in your body. If the virus becomes active again later, it can cause shingles.

Shingles typically causes a painful, blistering rash. For some people, the pain can persist for months or years, interfering with their daily activities.

Studies have shown that people with COPD may have almost triple the risk of developing shingles. Researchers aren’t completely sure why this is, but the working theory is that it has to do with immune system dysfunction.

Having had shingles increases the risk of cardiovascular events like heart attack and stroke. One 2022 study found that people who had previously had shingles were almost 30 percent more likely to have a cardiovascular event than those who’d never had shingles.

A large number of people with COPD also live with heart disease, which makes getting the shingles vaccine essential. Doctors recommend that people with COPD get the shingles vaccine regularly.

COVID-19 Vaccine

COVID-19 (a type of coronavirus disease) is a respiratory illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In many cases, symptoms are mild or moderate, such as fatigue, sore throat, or cough. Most people recover at home with rest.

But people with underlying health conditions, like COPD and heart disease, are more likely to get severely ill. Some research has shown that people with COPD may be more likely to be hospitalized when ill with COVID-19.

COVID-19 infection has also been shown to increase the risk of cardiovascular events. A large Swedish study found that people who had recently been infected with COVID-19 were nearly three to eight times more likely to have a heart attack than those who didn’t have the virus. The risk of stroke was also significantly higher — up to three to seven times more likely in people recently infected with COVID-19 compared to those without it.

Because many people with COPD also have heart disease, doctors recommend that those with the lung condition get COVID-19 vaccines regularly. Like the flu vaccine, COVID-19 vaccines are usually easy to find at local pharmacies starting every October.

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Have you gotten the flu vaccine, the RSV vaccine, or any other vaccines? Let others know in the comments below.