The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Wednesday backed the use of Merck’s Capvaxive and Pfizer’s Prevnar 20 in adults between 50-64 years of age, opening a bigger market for the respective companies.
An expert panel of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday supported the broader use of pneumococcal vaccines, including adults between 19 and 49 years with certain risk factors, according to Reuters.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 14–1 in favor of expanding the agency’s guidance for pneumococcal vaccines—such as Merck’s Capvaxive and Pfizer’s Prevnar 20—to cover adults aged 50 to 64 years. These recommendations are not yet final and will still need final approval from the CDC director and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Still, the new guidelines could unlock a bigger patient pool for Merck and Pfizer. Currently, the CDC only recommends pneumococcal vaccination for older adults 65 years and above, as well as in young adults aged 19 through 65 with certain risk conditions.
A Merck spokesperson in an emailed statement welcomed the results of the ACIP vote, calling it a “potentially practice-changing decision” that could contribute to better immunization rates and health outcomes. The ACIP’s recommendations, if approved by the CDC director, “can help advance how we protect our communities from invasive pneumococcal disease and pneumococcal pneumonia,” the spokesperson said.
Merck’s Capvaxive, which the FDA approved in June 2024, is a 21-valent vaccine that targets the most prevalent serotypes, which cause around 84% of invasive pneumococcal disease in adults 50 years and older. A few weeks after approval, the CDC’s ACIP unanimously endorsed the use of Capvaxive.
According to a Merck press release following the ACIP vote, the panel specifically recommends Capvaxive for adults aged 50 years and above who have not yet been immunized with a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. The shot can also be given to vaccine-naïve younger adults 19 to 49 years with “certain underlying medical conditions” and other risk factors.
The ACIP vote on Wednesday also presents a potential boon to Pfizer, which markets the 20-valent Prevnar 20. The FDA first approved the vaccine in June 2021 for adults 18 and above, and then in April 2023 to allow for pediatric use. Prevnar 20 improves upon Pfizer’s previous pneumococcal vaccine—Prevnar 13, which only covered 13 virus serotypes—and targets additional serotypes known to cause invasive pneumococcal disease or are associated with high fatality rates and antibiotic resistance.
As in the case of Capvaxive, the ACIP on Wednesday backed the use of Prevnar 20 in older adults 50 years and older, and in 19-to-49-year-olds with certain risk factors, according to a Pfizer press release.
