THE problem with adding years to your life is that they come when you’re too old to enjoy them. This well-established bulwark against giving up bad habits is specious, of course. Give them up now, and you’ll benefit for the rest of your life, not just near its end.
A similar argument comes to mind when contemplating the effects of cytomegalovirus (CMV), an insidious infection which seems to “wear out” the immune system, stealthily shortening the lives of the many who carry it (see “Stealthy virus that robs years of life could be beaten“).
Treating older people with antivirals might extend their lives, but this is buying back time after the damage has been done. Prioritising child vaccination, with the goal of securing lifelong gains, might be better.
CMV is symptomless in healthy adults, making the potential benefits and risks of vaccination hard to define and evaluate. Even if the evidence supports it, the argument may prove uniquely difficult to articulate, particularly to the sceptical.
It will be years before CMV vaccination becomes a real possibility, but we should start thinking now about ways to assess and present its value.