They say Get Your Vaccines, and do it right now. The media and public health authorities these days are encouraging us to go in for both our flu vaccine and our bivalent covid booster at the same time. Last night's news reported that you CAN get both vaccines at the same time with little increase in minor side effects, and no increase in major adverse effects. This is true. You CAN.
What they did not address is SHOULD you. Public health authorities want you to get both vaccines at once because they fear that if you only get one, you won't be back for the second one. Their motivation is about convenience (for them and for you), and enhancing (numbers) coverage in the population. But for the individual there are more concerns.
You are not a number. You probably want to know how well YOU will be protected by a vaccine. You will not see news or magazines reporting about the relative efficacy of vaccines with different dosing schemes. Odds are there hasn't been a double blind placebo control study asking exactly that question.
There are things we do know. For example, we know that getting sick with two diseases at the same time makes you less able to fight either one. Getting vaccinated with two vaccines at the same time does the same thing. It’s a two-front war. We know that the standard advice about getting a vaccine is to delay it until you are not sick. When your immune system has to fight two adversaries at once it does not fight as well. You will muster a stronger and longer immune response if you only get one vaccine at a time.
Public health authorities think that the public is not able to understand and act on information this complex. I think otherwise. I think you are smart enough to do it. Here's the plan. (This applies unless you have a contraindication, which you should discuss with your doctor.) Get one of the two vaccines ASAP. On the day you get that vaccine, put a reminder on your calendar to get the other one in one month’s time. What that reminder comes up, go get the other one ASAP. That is how you do it. Prove them wrong.
(Image text below is a screenshot from the CDC.)
What they did not address is SHOULD you. Public health authorities want you to get both vaccines at once because they fear that if you only get one, you won't be back for the second one. Their motivation is about convenience (for them and for you), and enhancing (numbers) coverage in the population. But for the individual there are more concerns.
You are not a number. You probably want to know how well YOU will be protected by a vaccine. You will not see news or magazines reporting about the relative efficacy of vaccines with different dosing schemes. Odds are there hasn't been a double blind placebo control study asking exactly that question.
There are things we do know. For example, we know that getting sick with two diseases at the same time makes you less able to fight either one. Getting vaccinated with two vaccines at the same time does the same thing. It’s a two-front war. We know that the standard advice about getting a vaccine is to delay it until you are not sick. When your immune system has to fight two adversaries at once it does not fight as well. You will muster a stronger and longer immune response if you only get one vaccine at a time.
Public health authorities think that the public is not able to understand and act on information this complex. I think otherwise. I think you are smart enough to do it. Here's the plan. (This applies unless you have a contraindication, which you should discuss with your doctor.) Get one of the two vaccines ASAP. On the day you get that vaccine, put a reminder on your calendar to get the other one in one month’s time. What that reminder comes up, go get the other one ASAP. That is how you do it. Prove them wrong.
(Image text below is a screenshot from the CDC.)
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