Are you able to get new COVID booster and flu shot collectively? What to know
Fall has arrived, which suggests many individuals are beginning to consider getting their annual influenza vaccines and COVID-19 boosters.
Perhaps you have seen advertisements about getting updated on each your photographs forward of flu season — with one marketing campaign that includes Kansas Metropolis Chiefs tight finish Travis Kelce — and questioned when it is best to make that appointment. You would possibly even surprise if it is secure to get each the COVID vaccine and flu shot on the identical time.
Consultants warn that getting correctly vaccinated in opposition to respiratory viruses forward of the chilly months is vital, particularly on the heels of a late-summer uptick in COVID-19 infections.
Here is what to find out about this yr’s vaccines and what consultants are recommending.
Flu season:CDC broadcasts flu shot suggestions
When can I get the flu vaccine and COVID booster?
Each photographs are actually accessible.
Additionally accessible is a vaccine for RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). The world’s first RSV vaccine was accepted in Might by the Meals and Drug Administration to guard adults 60 and older from the worst signs of the widespread respiratory virus, which infects the lungs and respiration passages.
It takes about two weeks after getting the photographs for our our bodies to construct sufficient antibodies to guard us from the viruses. That is why the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention recommends that folks begin pondering now about getting vaccines earlier than the tip of October as instances of respiratory viruses ramp up.
The flu shot is really useful for many adults and kids over 6 months outdated.
Throughout final yr’s flu season, which generally peaks between December and February, the CDC reported there have been as much as 54 million flu sicknesses and 58,000 flu-related deaths in the US. Getting a vaccine is important, consultants say, because the CDC additionally estimates that flu photographs prevented one other 1.8 million flu-related sicknesses through the earlier season.
The CDC additionally recommends that everybody ages 5 years and older get one dose of the brand new Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine not less than two months after getting their final dose. For youngsters between 6 months and 4 years outdated, the CDC says they need to get one to 2 doses of up to date COVID-19 vaccine in the event that they have not obtained any COVID-19 photographs earlier than, or one to 2 doses in the event that they obtained COVID-19 vaccines earlier than Sept. 12, 2023.
President Joe Biden:POTUS obtained a COVID booster and flu shot. White Home urges different People to do the identical
Is it secure to get a flu shot and a COVID-19 booster on the identical time? Are you able to get them in the identical arm?
Whereas People can schedule their vaccines individually, it’s secure to get each the COVID vaccine and flu shot on the identical time, in keeping with the CDC.
Actually, the 2 had been usually administered concurrently over the past two flu seasons. The comfort of creating just one journey to your close by pharmacy or major care doctor is met with solely the small draw back that you could be really feel quickly a bit worse than you’ll had you gotten separately, in keeping with a CDC research.
Really, it would not even matter in the event you get them each in the identical arm or not.
One current research revealed in July on the Jama Community discovered that getting the COVID vaccine and the flu shot collectively didn’t considerably alter the physique’s immune response to at least one or each vaccines.
Nonetheless, because the RSV vaccine is so new, info on receiving it similtaneously both the flu or COVID-19 vaccines is proscribed, in keeping with a CDC report that didn’t make a suggestion both means.
What the info says:Are COVID vaccine considerations impacting flu-shot charges?
How can I count on to really feel the following day?
Those that go for each photographs directly solely stand to expertise barely extra extreme reactions, analysis exhibits.
Negative effects like fatigue, complications and muscle aches usually tend to happen when each photographs are administered collectively, in keeping with the CDC.
“These reactions had been principally gentle and went away rapidly,” the CDC concluded.
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending information for USA TODAY. Attain him at elagatta@gannett.com
