IntroductionIt is well established that older adults, those over the age of 65, bear the greatest burden of mortality following influenza (flu) infection, comprising 83% of deaths during the 2021–22 season (CDC, 2022). Similarly, older adults are at greatest risk for adverse outcomes in the context of other respiratory viral infections like COVID-19, where over 75% of deaths have occurred among older adults (CDC, 2023). The reasons underpinning this vulnerability are manifold, but much of this disparity is related to the systemic age-related declines in the makeup and function of the immune system and its response to pathogens.Aging results in alterations in the functionality of both the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system (Linton and Dorshkind, 2004; Shaw et al., 2013). Within the adaptive immune system, CD8 T-cells are the primary mediators of viral clearance via the direct cytotoxic killing of infected cells. With age, CD8 T-cells cytotoxic activity declines and, therefore...
