Many adults ages 60 and up will be eligible for three vaccines this fall — a COVID booster, the flu shot, and the new respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine — so the big question is, can they get them all at once?
Since there are no data on giving this trio of vaccines at the same time, most experts advise a different strategy.
Take flu and COVID together, they told MedPage Today. The CDC endorses this, as there’s evidence and experience that people can take this combination just fine.
“We can start giving this right now because it’s supposed to, according to the data, provide substantial long-term protection through at least one RSV season, and maybe longer,” Schaffner said. “It looks as though there is indeed longer-term protection than we get with flu or COVID [vaccines].”
That said, it’s OK to give all three at once if that is the only opportunity to do so, said Aaron Glatt, MD, of Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside, New York, who is also a spokesperson for IDSA.
“We don’t have a ton of data, but if someone is really that sick, I’d want them to get all those vaccines,” Glatt told MedPage Today. “The problem with waiting is, will they get the vaccine? If they need three visits to the doctor, how many people are willing to do that?”
Unlike the second dose of the original COVID vaccine, experts didn’t seem concerned about similar side effects with the RSV vaccine.