Jan Willem Elte The Netherlands and Daniel Sereni France
Covid 19 new vaccine is indicated for all people at risk of getting severely ill from a covid infection. The vaccines proposed this fall are active against currently circulating variants of covid. Vaccination is important for you and others. Side effects may occur but are mild in vast majority of people as shown by reports from tens of millions of doses given so far.
European national health agencies (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control = ECDC and Eropean Medicines Agency = EMA) as well as NHS in the UK advice to take both vaccinations for covid-19 and flu well before the winter. The current covid-19 vaccine is the one directed to the new BA.286. There are generally three vaccines available: from Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax. The flu vaccine is one of those developed this year based on the flu viruses of last year.
It appears that both vaccines indeed can be taken at the same time without problems. Coadministration was not associated with substantially inferior immune response or to more frequent adverse events compared with covid-19 vaccine administration alone. It is recommanded to have each vaccine injected in a different arm. If it is prefered to take both vaccines separately, there is no minimum waiting period between getting each vaccine.
Adverse effects usually are mild and consist of pain on the site of the injection, headache, fever and myalgia (muscle ache). More severe adverse effects do exist but are exceptional.
With vaccination you protect not only yourself but also the people around you, including your relatives.
The groups eligible to receive the vaccines are:
- Adults aged 60 years and over.
- Immunocompromised persons
- Other vulnerable persons (aged > 12 years)
- Pregnant women
- Residents and staff in long-term care homes
Sources:
- ECDC, EMA and NHS websites. Please consult the website of your national health authority.
- Gonen T et al. Immunogenicity and reactogenicity of coadministration of covid-19 and influenza vaccines. JAMA : Network Open, 2023;6(9):e2332813.
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