Why (and When) You Should Get Both a COVID Shot and a Flu Shot This Fall
It's flu vaccine season again, and there's good news-the nasal spray option is back. In addition to getting your flu shot, this is also a good time to get your 2024-2025 COVID shot (yep, we're officially on a yearly schedule for these boosters too).
In addition, RSV shots are available for the very young, for people who are pregnant, and for older folks, if you haven't gotten one before.
Here's your rundown on this fall's vaccines, and when you should get them.
What shots do I need, and when?Fall is the beginning of flu season, and it's also when we see an uptick in other respiratory illnesses. To better protect yourself, you may want to get:
A flu shot, ideally during September or October (for everybody aged 6 months and up).
A COVID shot (for everybody aged 6 months and up). The current version is a new one for this season.
An adult RSV shot if you are 75 or older, or if you are 60 or older and have certain chronic health conditions or live in an nursing home (there is also an RSV shot for babies up to 8 months). If you are pregnant, you're recommended to get an RSV shot between 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy.
If you are pregnant, besides the RSV shot, the CDC recommends getting a flu vaccine, a COVID vaccine, and a pertussis vaccine (TDaP) in your third trimester. The baby will be born with antibodies to those diseases, protecting them for about the first six months of life.
About the 2024 flu shotsAll of this year's influenza vaccines are trivalent (meaning they target three different strains of flu virus). Besides the usual injectables, the nasal spray version of the flu vaccine is back this year. (It was off the market for several years based on findings that suggested it may have been less effective.)
The nasal spray vaccine uses a live virus (a modified/weakened version of the flu virus, not the actual flu virus) and because of this, it's potentially less safe for some people. The nasal spray is not recommended for people under 2 years of age, over 49, or who are pregnant. There are also health conditions that mean you shouldn't have the nasal vaccine. The CDC has more information here.
Older adults may want to consider a high-dose or adjuvanted flu vaccine, but the CDC says that if you can't get that, any flu shot is better than none.
About the 2024 COVID shotsWe've finally settled into a pattern with COVID shots where we get a new version each fall. It makes sense to get your COVID shot in the same season as your flu shot, since the new shots are out now. The CDC says that we should all get a 2024-2025 edition COVID shot.
As for timing, they say it's OK to wait three months after a COVID infection before getting your vaccine. (You can still get the vaccine in that window if you like, but some people prefer to wait since the recent infection protects you for that little while.)
Your options, if you are an adult or a child aged 5 and up, are:
Moderna mRNA (one shot)
Pfizer mRNA (one shot)
Novavax (for ages 12 and up only-and if this is your first COVID vaccine ever, you need two doses)
Children under 12 can't get Novavax, and children under 5 who have never had a COVID vaccine before may need more doses, depending on the brand of vaccine and their vaccination history. Basically, they will need, in total, 2 doses of Moderna or 3 doses of Pfizer. You can read the CDC's recommendations here.
The CDC points out that vaccines have been found to reduce the risk of long COVID. They also add: "Last season, people who received a 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine saw greater protection against illness and hospitalization than those who did not receive a 2023-2024 vaccine."
About the 2024 RSV immunizationsThere are three different ways to get protection against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), depending on which group of people you fall into.
For babies, there is an antibody-based immunization that should be given within the baby's first week of life if they are born anywhere from October to March. It can also be given to babies up to 8 months old, and in that case it should be given in October or November. Here is the CDC's page with more information on RSV immunizations for infants. A baby usually does not need this immunization if their mother/parent got the RSV vaccine while pregnant with them.
For people who are pregnant, there is an RSV vaccine that can be given during 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy, between September and January. If that portion of your pregnancy does not overlap with that calendar period, the RSV vaccine is not recommended for you. (This timing is meant to protect the baby during RSV season.) Here is the CDC's page with more information on this vaccine for people who are pregnant.
If you are 75 or older, the CDC recommends that you get an RSV vaccine. The vaccine is also recommended for people aged 60 and up who live in a nursing home or have certain health conditions that put them at greater risk of severe RSV disease. Note that this is not a seasonal vaccine; you only need to get it once. But if you haven't gotten it yet, now is the perfect time. Here is the CDC's page with more information on this vaccine for older adults.
You can get multiple shots in the same appointment. The CDC has a page explaining this in detail, but it boils down to the simple advice that you can get COVID, flu, and/or RSV shots all at the same appointment, and that there is no minimum waiting period between them.
The CDC has recommended in the past that you get the COVID shot in one arm and your flu shot in the other if you're using one of the high-dose or adjuvanted flu shots (this applies to older adults, but not to middle-aged or younger people). This year, they just say that your shots should be at least one inch apart from each other--which could mean two shots in the same arm if the provider is careful with their spacing.
Otherwise, it's up to you. Each shot may result in a sore arm, so you might prefer to get both of them over with at once, or you might decide it's more convenient to stop by the drugstore one week for your COVID booster and the next week for your flu shot.
The CDC says that the RSV vaccine is safe to receive alongside COVID, flu, or other vaccines. If you're getting multiple vaccines, you may want to talk to your doctor or pharmacist about whether it makes sense to get them all together.
This post was previously published and has been updated with new information for fall 2024.