WEDNESDAY, Aug. 27, 2025 (HealthDay News) — It is vital that people with heart disease get vaccinated against common infectious diseases like COVID-19, influenza and RSV, a new clinical guideline says.
Vaccination can protect the heart health of people who’ve been diagnosed with heart disease, says the new guidance from the American College of Cardiology (ACC).
“Vaccination against communicable respiratory diseases and other serious diseases is critical for people with heart disease, but barriers exist to ensuring people are educated on which vaccines to get, how often to get them and why they are important,” said Dr. Paul Heidenreich, chair of the ACC writing committee for the new guidelines.
“With this document, we want to encourage clinicians to have these conversations and help their patients manage vaccination as part of a standard prevention and treatment plan,” he added in a news release.
The ACC guidelines come in the midst of a radical restructuring of the U.S. system of vaccination by the Trump administration.
In particular, COVID vaccines have come under scrutiny, with the administration limiting the groups for which the jabs are recommended.
People with heart disease are more vulnerable to infection from respiratory viruses, and have a higher risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death from infection, the ACC paper says.
Research has shown that vaccines are highly effective in reducing these risks, but only 30% of primary care docs are assessing patients’ vaccination status during clinic visits, the ACC says.
The guidelines recommend:
An annual flu vaccine for all adults to reduce the risk of heart problems and death.
A one-time pneumococcal vaccine for adults 19 and older with heart disease, to protect against pneumonia and meningitis.
COVID-19 vaccination to reduce risk of severe infection, death, heart attack, myocarditis, stroke, atrial fibrillation and long COVID.
A single dose of RSV vaccine for adults 50 to 74 with heart disease, and in all adults 75 or older.
A two-dose course of the shingles vaccine to protect people 50 and older against stroke and heart attack, as people with heart disease are at greater risk of shingles infection.
The guidelines acknowledge that myocarditis — inflammation of the heart muscle — has been observed as a rare side effect of COVID-19 vaccination, but noted that the risk of this heart problem is less than the risks posed by COVID infection.
“The increase in myocarditis with mRNA vaccination has been estimated at 1 to 19 cases per 1,000,000 persons after the first two doses,” the paper says. “The course of vaccine-associated myocarditis is more benign than COVID-19 infection–related myocarditis, with almost universal complete recovery for those with vaccine-associated myocarditis.”
The guidelines also note that there’s no danger from a heart patient receiving multiple vaccinations at once.
“In fact, there may be improved efficiency from receiving multiple vaccines on the same day,” the guidelines say. “However, for those requiring two pneumococcal vaccines, these should not be given at the same time.”
The guidelines appear in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
More information
The American Heart Association has more on RSV and heart health.
SOURCES: American College of Cardiology, news release, Aug. 26, 2025; Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Aug. 26, 2025
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