not been fully presented.”
Lots of other combination vaccines are already on the market, like tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis (Tdap) and the measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) shots, Adalja shares.
Whether a COVID/flu combo would be safe and effective will depend on the immune reaction that’s produced by a single jab.
He notes that the MMR and varicella (chickenpox) vaccines are separated for the first dose, and then combined into a single MMRV shot for a person’s second dose.
That’s because when the combo MMRV is given as one shot for the first dose, it produces more adverse reactions than breaking it into two separate jabs.
Either way, infectious disease doctors like Schaffner and Adalja are bracing for a flu season that could be worse than last year. According to the CDC, flu cases were at an all-time low in 2020-2021 as pandemic protections such as masking and social distancing also served to keep influenza at bay.
READ: 5 Foods to Help Fight Back this Cold and Flu Season
“People are concerned because we’re doing exactly the opposite of what we did last year,” Schaffner says. “We’re going out instead of staying home. The kids are in school rather than learning virtually. So we anticipate there will be influenza this year. We can’t tell you how much, but we think there will be influenza, so we’re going to have to reintroduce everyone to this other respiratory virus which is also nasty — influenza.”
Schaffner is also worried that public health experts will be promoting flu shots “at a time of vaccine fatigue,” during which people might also be touting COVID booster shots among some groups.
But it’s still anyone’s guess what will happen this flu season.
“It’s unclear whether influenza will be a major factor this season because there has not been much flu circulating even in the Southern Hemisphere, and there are some residual COVID-19 mitigation measures that people are taking,” Adalja says. “But influenza has a special status, and it is very important to be prepared for whatever the season may hold.”