Should You Get The COVID Vaccine and Flu Shot Together?
Autumn marks a time when temperature drops, school begins again, and the year begins to come to a close, but autumn also represents another season: flu season. The flu shot is an autumn necessity, and now with the omicron specific COVID-19 booster shot available, the question of which vaccine and when, rises.
Should you get a COVID booster and the flu shot at the same time?
Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee says receiving both shots at the same time does not cause any increase in adverse reactions, though you may have soreness in more than one arm for a day or two. He also states that the immune response will be just as good as when they are given separately.
Dr. Monica Ghandi, professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco states that while there is not a lot of information available on simultaneous administration of the flu vaccine and the COVID-19 boosters, a study performed in the United Kingdom called the ComFluCov study showed that there was no increase in adverse reactions when receiving the shots at the same time.
Dr. Armitage, medical director of the University Hospital Roe Green Center for Travel Medicine & Global Health stated, “When the COVID-19 vaccines were first approved, the recommendation was to not get a vaccine two weeks before or after. The reason for this was to not confuse adverse reactions[…] by now there has been so much experience with COVID vaccines, this no longer applies. It is absolutely okay to get a flu shot and COVID shot on the same visit.”
Should you get shots in the same arm?
The CDC advises that vaccines given simultaneously should be at least one inch apart; however, if you may be prone to injection site reactions, vaccines should be given in different arms. There are no contraindications to having them in the same arm. Most providers will most likely administer vaccines in different arms.
What is the minimum amount of time between getting the flu vaccine and COVID vaccines?
There is no required interval between the two vaccines. But, receiving your COVID vaccine should fall in line with your vaccine dosing schedule as it pertains to the last time you received a vaccination. Dr. Ghandi recommends at least 6 months from your last infection or booster shot if you have already completed your COVID vaccine series.
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