The COVID-19 vaccine has dominated headlines for months. But now there is another vaccine on the radar: the flu vaccine.
If you have already been vaccinated against COVID-19, the window to get the flu shot may coincide with the time to get a COVID-19 booster vaccine. In case you missed it, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on August 18 that people who received the two-dose COVID-19 mRNA vaccines they should receive booster shots eight months after receiving their second dose for maximum protection. From the week of September 20, third shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines will be offered.
And of course, if you’re thinking about getting vaccinated against COVID-19 in the first place, your shots could also match the seasonal flu vaccine (something the CDC recommends you get in late October).
This begs a huge question: is it okay to get a COVID-19 vaccine and a flu shot at the same time? And what can be the possible side effects if you do? This is what you need to know.
Is it safe to get a COVID-19 vaccine and a flu shot at the same time?
Yes. When COVID-19 vaccines were first granted emergency use authorization, the CDC recommended waiting 14 days between vaccination and any other vaccine, says Thomas Russo, MD, professor and head of infectious diseases. from Buffalo University in New York. This was done to make sure both vaccines would be effective and to minimize side effects. But now the CDC says it’s okay to get a COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines at the same visit. “Experience with other vaccines has shown that the way our body develops protection, known as the immune response, after vaccination and the possible side effects of vaccines are usually the same when given alone or with others. vaccines, ”says the CDC online.
“There are no restrictions on any joint administration of vaccination,” says Amesh A. Adalja, MD, a scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “That makes it more convenient.”
But it is one Good idea to get the flu shot and COVID-19 at the same time?
Again, the CDC says it’s perfectly fine to follow this route. But doctors say you may want to consider a few things before rolling up both sleeves at once.
Both arms can hurt
At a very basic level, you could deal with two sore arms, says William Schaffner, MD, an infectious disease specialist and professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “You will receive an inoculation on each arm,” he points out. “It’s okay to do it and your body will take care of it in a perfectly normal way, but do you want to walk with two sore arms at the same time?”
No studies have been done on the reception of both traits at the same time
Dr. Schaffner says it’s “very hard to tell” how you might feel or what side effects you might experience if you get both vaccines at the same time. “No careful studies have been done on this,” he notes.
Side effects will depend on past reactions to both vaccines
If you are concerned about worsening possible side effects, such as fever or feeling blah, if you are getting the vaccines, Dr. Schaffner says “a lot will depend on your previous experience with the vaccines.” That is, if you have a mild fever after the flu shot and you have a fever after the COVID-19 vaccine, there is a good chance of living the same if you put them together and possibly more intensely than if you receive one at a time. Ditto for having a sore arm or any other side effects.
The conclusion
“If it’s more convenient to take both vaccines at once, go get it,” Dr. Schaffner says. But if you can space them out a bit and you’re nervous about possible side effects, it suggests waiting a week or two between shots.
Whatever you do, doctors recommend taking both the COVID-19 vaccine and the flu vaccine. “The consequences of contracting COVID and the flu are not great,” says Dr. Russo. “He’ll want to get vaccinated.”
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