Are you able to get the COVID booster and flu shot on the identical time? For Dr. Ashish Jha, the White Home COVID-19 response coordinator, the reply is straightforward.
“I actually consider for this reason God gave us two arms — one for the flu shot and the opposite one for the COVID shot,” he quipped throughout a latest briefing.
As public well being officers put together for a doable rebound of the coronavirus this fall and winter, they’re additionally urging individuals to get vaccinated towards the acquainted, if lately quiet, foe of influenza.
However busy residents needn’t fret about reserving a pair of appointments. Jha, together with different officers and consultants, say it’s completely effective to roll up every of your sleeves throughout the identical go to.
Healthcare suppliers ought to provide flu and COVID-19 vaccines on the identical go to to people who find themselves eligible, in response to the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
“Getting each vaccines on the identical go to will increase the possibility that an individual will probably be updated with their vaccinations,” the CDC mentioned in a presentation.
The company advised administering every shot in separate limbs.
Different vaccines are effective, too, except there’s a selected motive to not administer them on the time of the healthcare go to.
“Suppliers ought to provide all vaccines for which an individual is eligible on the identical go to,” the CDC mentioned.
Flu photographs are actually accessible for everybody age 6 months or older. Residents can go to California’s MyTurn platform to discover a walk-in clinic or to e book an appointment beginning Thursday.
Getting the flu vaccine was an annual occasion for a lot of Californians however, like most elements of life, the observe has been upended and interrupted in the course of the pandemic. Nevertheless, due to different interventions in place to fight COVID-19, the flu has been comparatively dormant.
“Influenza principally disappeared the previous two winters, but it surely returned this previous spring of 2022 after we stopped carrying masks,” Los Angeles County Public Well being Director Barbara Ferrer mentioned. “As a result of we anticipate extra flu within the upcoming months, we do encourage everybody to make the most of the various vaccination websites the place you’re going to have the ability to get your flu vaccine and your COVID fall booster on the identical time.”
Each photographs, she added, “present safety towards sickness severity, growing the chance of fewer disruptions for you and your loved ones this fall and winter.”
Some officers have likened the brand new COVID-19 boosters to the flu shot. Simply as officers formulate the flu vaccine in an try to focus on that 12 months’s model of the virus, the up to date boosters are designed towards each the unique coronavirus pressure and the Omicron subvariants which have dominated the U.S. in latest months, together with BA.5.
“We’re all aware of the annual updating of influenza vaccines yearly. Scientists monitor flu strains all over the world, and this information is used to tell how the annual vaccine needs to be up to date,” Ferrer mentioned earlier this month. “The identical idea was utilized in updating the COVID booster.”
Shifting ahead, some officers have speculated it’s doable residents would possibly obtain annual COVID-19 booster doses, a lot as they do flu photographs.
