People who get a flu shot at the same time as a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine booster are only slightly more likely to report side effects than people who get the booster by itself, U.S. researchers found. Earlier studies found that giving flu shots and COVID-19 vaccines at the same time did not make either one less effective and may be more convenient.
Researchers tracked 981,099 American teens and adults who got vaccine boosters with or without flu shots in September or October 2021.
In the following week, reports by study participants of a “systemic” reaction such as fatigue, headache or body aches were 8% higher for those who simultaneously received the flu shot and the Pfizer-BioNTech booster and 11% higher for those who got the flu shot and a Moderna booster, compared to the risk in people who received only an mRNA vaccine booster.
Based on the results, “clinicians can confidently inform patients that concurrent administration of the COVID-19 booster and seasonal influenza vaccine is both safe and associated with only a slight increase in adverse events compared with the COVID-19 booster alone,” a separate team of researchers wrote in an accompanying editorial.
