What you need to know about getting the COVID, flu and RSV vaccines at the same time

Chances are you also received the above immunizations and more in one visit to your pediatrician. Getting multiple vaccines at once is not only safe, according to the CDC, but just as effective as getting them individually. Now that you’re an adult entering another respiratory virus season, there’s no reason you can’t get your COVID and flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) shots if you’re 60 or older.

That said, you’re not alone if you have reservations about co-administering the vaccine. Most American adults 18 and older (61%) would not or are not sure they will get their COVID and flu shots, according to a survey conducted in August by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID). Fewer than two in five adults (39%) said they would get both shots together. Among adults 65 and older, half (50%) planned to get both vaccines at the same time, up from 41% last year.

The following are the reasons people give for not wanting the COVID and flu shots in one sitting:

• Concerns about side effects: 56%
• Do not think it is safe to get both vaccines at the same time: 39%
• The doctor did not recommend: 15%
• Do not think that vaccines will work well if they are received at the same time: 13%

Doctors: Consider the convenience of COVID, flu shots together

While getting these and other vaccines together or separately is strictly a matter of personal preference, there are advantages to grouping them, says Dr. Donald Dumford, an infectious disease specialist at Cleveland Clinic Akron General. For starters, you can save yourself multiple trips to the doctor or pharmacy, which can be especially convenient if you don’t have safe transportation or need to take time off work for immunizations.

“It is completely safe to get your COVID and flu (vaccines) at the same time. If you’re eligible for RSV, it’s absolutely safe to get the RSV (shot) at the same time,” says Dumford. wealth. Plus, “get rid of all those mild side effects at once.”

Any vaccine can cause side effects, the CDC says, which are usually mild, such as a sore arm or low-grade fever, and go away within a few days. The idea that vaccines themselves make you sick is a myth; any side effects you may feel is your body creating an immune response.

What’s more, there’s no indication in the existing literature that getting multiple vaccines at once worsens these effects, Dumford says. However, you know your body, and if you’ve had unpleasant vaccine side effects in the past, you may opt to split immunizations.

“There’s no good way to predict whether you’ll have more or less reactivity when you get two vaccines as opposed to one, while we know there’s (no) downside to getting both at the same time,” said NFID Medical Director Dr. Robert Hopkins Jr. says wealth. “I still encourage everyone, if you have a fever or a sore arm, to take an over-the-counter pain reliever (pain reliever) to try to control those symptoms.”

How you choose to spread your vaccines or not “comes down to practicality,” Hopkins says, suggesting that you weigh how likely you are to return for your other shots against your response to previous shots. “If there’s any concern that we’re not coming back, let’s go ahead and finish them both off.”

As long as you keep your immunizations up to date for COVID, flu and RSV, it doesn’t matter if you get them together or not, the CDC says.

Who should not receive several vaccines at once?

Most people can receive most routine vaccines in combination, according to the Cleveland Clinic. But it’s always best to check with your healthcare provider first, especially if you’re 65 or older and/or have conditions like HIV or certain spleen problems that affect your immune system.

Some vaccines, such as those for MMR and varicella (chicken pox), contain a live, weakened form of a virus that triggers a stronger immune response. For this reason, the Cleveland Clinic recommends that no more than two live vaccines be given in one session.

Finally, people who plan to travel outside the US may be required to get certain vaccines that cannot be given at the same time, such as those for cholera and typhoid.

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