Immunofitness in the elderly: The role of vaccination in promoting healthy aging

Aging reshapes immunity through immunosenescence and inflammaging, increasing susceptibility to infection, exacerbating chronic conditions, and blunting vaccine responses. This review frames "immunofitness" as a practical goal of healthy aging and examines how adult vaccination builds immune resilience. Vaccination strengthens adaptive memory, leverages adjuvants to optimize antigen presentation, and can reprogramme innate cells (trained immunity), yielding heterologous benefits beyond target pathogens. We integrate evidence in older adults for influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, pneumococcal, COVID-19, and recombinant zoster vaccines, including reductions in respiratory events, cardiovascular outcomes, hospitalization, and mortality. We highlight emerging platforms and precision vaccinology to tailor schedules by immune age, comorbidity, and frailty. Integrating routine, age-appropriate vaccination with lifestyle measures is a feasible, high-impact strategy to promote immunofitness.

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Publication Details

Journal
Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics
Published
2026-02-10
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2026.2624234
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Immune responses and vaccinations
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
24.43
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Immunofitness in the elderly: The role of vaccination in promoting healthy aging

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Immunofitness in the elderly: The role of vaccination in promoting healthy aging

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article en
1 citations

Abstract

Aging reshapes immunity through immunosenescence and inflammaging, increasing susceptibility to infection, exacerbating chronic conditions, and blunting vaccine responses. This review frames "immunofitness" as a practical goal of healthy aging and examines how adult vaccination builds immune resilience. Vaccination strengthens adaptive memory, leverages adjuvants to optimize antigen presentation, and can reprogramme innate cells (trained immunity), yielding heterologous benefits beyond target pathogens. We integrate evidence in older adults for influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, pneumococcal, COVID-19, and recombinant zoster vaccines, including reductions in respiratory events, cardiovascular outcomes, hospitalization, and mortality. We highlight emerging platforms and precision vaccinology to tailor schedules by immune age, comorbidity, and frailty. Integrating routine, age-appropriate vaccination with lifestyle measures is a feasible, high-impact strategy to promote immunofitness.

Human Vaccines & ImmunotherapeuticsVol. 22(1)
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (US), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (ES), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (ES), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ES), Hospital Clínico San Carlos (ES), University of Bouira (DZ), International Olive Council (ES), Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (ES), Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago (ES), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (ES), Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía (ES), Primary Health Care (QA), Biomedical Research Institute (US), Fundacion Centro De Investigacion De Enfermedades Neurologicas (ES), Cordoba University (US)
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Immune responses and vaccinations
24.43
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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