Year: 2026
Type: article
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.
Institutions: Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, University of Córdoba, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Clínico San Carlos
Language: English
Subfield: Immunology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,175
OpenAlex ID: W7128470378