Can You Get Your COVID-19 Booster And Flu Shot At The Same Time?
With flu season fast approaching and COVID-19 cases on the rise, the risk of a "twindemic" is higher than ever before. That's why it's important to get vaccinated against both the flu and COVID-19 (via Health). With COVID-19 boosters on the horizon, however, the window of time to get your flu shot may overlap with the timeframe to get your third dose of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. But is it safe to get both shots at the same time?
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) previously recommended waiting 14 days in between vaccinations, their updated guidelines now state that both vaccines can be safely administered on the same day. After further assessment, the CDC concluded that the immune response and possible side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine are generally the same as the flu shot and other vaccines.
While you shouldn't hold off on getting one vaccine just to get the other at the same time, medical experts agree that getting both shots at the same time is safe and even recommended, especially if it is more convenient to get them on the same day.
Will the side effects be worse?
Although the side effects of both the flu shot and the COVID-19 vaccine are relatively the same, getting them both at the same time may potentially make you feel slightly worse (via Shape). However, this is largely because the two shots are administered in different arms, which means that you may end up with two sore arms instead of just one. Other common side effects of both vaccines include fever, headache, fatigue, nausea, and achy muscles.
"Everybody's response is a little bit different, but those after-effects from any vaccine are possible, and it would seem logical that if you had both of them co-administered that you might experience a little bit more of those after-effects, although that varies a lot from person-to-person," Aaron Clark, a family medicine physician at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center and medical director of the Ohio State Health Accountable Care Organization, told HuffPost. That being said, getting the flu and COVID-19 vaccines at the same time shouldn't amplify your reaction any more than other combination vaccine, like the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) shot.