I’ve received a lot of questions about the timing of various vaccines. The most common one is how to time the Covid booster and the flu vaccine.
Simply put, there is no concern about efficacy, side effects or complications of getting BOTH the flu vaccine and the Covid vaccine, booster or initial vaccination, SIMULTANEOUSLY. Neither are live vaccines and don’t affect the response to the other. There is no increase in occurrence or degree of side effects or complications.
There are many examples of combination vaccines being used already today:
- MMR, which covers measles, mumps and rubella. As an aside, in 26 years of being a doctor, I had not seen a single case of mumps, which often affects the salivary glands and neck lymph nodes, until 2 years ago. There have been more cases of mumps and measles in the US in the last few years than in the decades before combined, essentially because parents are starting to hold back on vaccinating their kids, fearful of the erroneous notion that vaccines cause autism. By the way, there is a movement out there, Ohio specifically, to ban ALL vaccine mandates, including in school kids. This would be a disaster for public health. How stupid can we get? I guess pretty stupid.
- DPT, which covers diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus.
- Flu in combination with swine flu. Actually, the flu vaccine usually covers various strains so in effect, it is a combination vaccine. This year’s vaccine covers 4 different strains.
There IS an issue when it comes to timing Covid and Flu vaccines with the Shingles vaccine however, and this has to do with the fact that it is a live vaccine, as opposed to both the flu and the Covid vaccines which are not live. The Shingles vaccine should be separated by 2 weeks from the other two, and it doesn’t matter which comes first. I’d get the Covid vaccine first. You’re much more likely to catch Covid than get a shingles outbreak. As far as Shingles goes, it is a 2 dose vaccine, separated by a few months, and you should get it even if you never had chicken pox. Side effects (soreness, achiness…) are more common with the shingles vaccine than with other vaccines. I got my second dose a few months ago. Other than arm soreness from the actual shot, I had no side effects. It’s recommended for anyone over 50, or if you are immunocompromised in some way. In reality, most people are immunocompromised in some way. Just being overweight impacts on proper immune function Ned as I’ve posted many times, close to 75% of Americans are overweight or obese, and obesity is the #1 risk factor for contracting and having a bad case of Covid.
MIXING COVID VACCINES. Mixing vaccines from different companies is also a question I get. It is somewhat of a mute point today since only the Pfizer vaccine is approved for a third dose, however, it is an important topic. A recent study looked at people who got the Astrazeneca vaccine (similar to J&J) followed either by another dose or a dose of one of the mRNA vaccines. The group with the mixed protocol had much higher and varied antibody response. Stay tuned but for now, get whatever vaccine you can and, if you are eligible and got the Pfizer vaccine originally, GET A BOOSTER! I got mine and had no reactions.
With respect to the new antiviral medication seeking FDA emergency use approval, more studies and numbers continue to look good. In a nutshell, in the studies, only unvaccinated people who got Covid were treated and followed. There was a 50% reduction in hospitalization as compared with those unvaccinated people who got the placebo. Death rates were also much lower. HOWEVER, neither benefit was anywhere as beneficial as what is provided by vaccination.
Hoping for better treatment when you get sick (it’s no longer an “if”) rather than getting vaccinated to prevent the disease in the first place is backwards thinking. PLEASE get vaccinated. We need to continue to develop better treatments for this terrible disease, but we need to focus more on getting more people, ALL people, vaccinated.
Remember that this is a PANdemic, affecting everyone around us, in every corner of the planet. Vaccination protects you, but it protects those around you more, and THAT is the key. I just heard someone say that we are at war with this virus. All of us. If I am in a foxhole with someone, we both need to know that we have each other’s backs and are doing everything we can to ensure each other’s protection against the enemy, the virus. Vaccination, masking, distancing and responsible social behavior are all parts of that protection.
Have a great weekend.
Stay safe and be well.
AC