We just lately had a debate within the feedback part in regards to the (de)deserves of getting a number of vaccinations directly (as in ones designed, safety-tested and authorised as particular person pictures). Reader Daryl reported his contrasting expertise with the constructive reader reviews about getting a Novavax booster, which ought to by advantage of its extra conventional design, trigger a lot much less in the best way of reactions than mRNA jabs:
I’m having my very own novavax (+ flu) vaccine expertise this morning… awoke with a headache, muscle aches and temperature dysregulation at 2:30 AM after a couple of hours of poor sleep. About the identical impact because the moderna boosters had on me.
Your humble blogger was maybe not as sympathetic as I ought to have been, pointing Novavax + flu vaccine will not be the identical as Novavax in isolation and that IM Doc has seen quite a lot of his sufferers having bother after pharmacies pushed them to get different vaccines concurrently their Covid booster. As IM Doc had reported by e-mail earlier that month:
Many sufferers getting all three on the similar time flu, Covid and RSV. They’re getting actually sick with flu like sickness. And the story is at all times the identical. Medicare sufferers going to the pharmacy to get a flu shot and ending up with all 3 on the robust encouragement of the pharmacist. Why not? Sufferers are actually thought of “revenue facilities”. They flip that 85 greenback flu shot “sale” right into a 400 one thing greenback sale with the opposite two pictures…..
We added some extra recommendation from him:
I’d let you know that any of the shingles vaxx ought to be taken by themselves in isolation for a month or so earlier than or after another vaccines. They will typically be very harsh.
Readers identified that supposed knowledgeable sources, equivalent to a website known as On a regular basis Well being, who on this case had an English main providing medical recommendation (with the article reviewed by a sole “knowledgeable”), that it was “secure” to get Covid and flu vaccine tout ensemble. Be aware the problem offered was not security however discomfort. Recall the Covid mRNA pictures are deemed secure even with inflicting many to need to skip a day or two of labor after getting them, an final result hourly laborers can’t afford.
There seem to have been sufficient individuals having dangerous outcomes from a flu + Covid jab combo that the FDA took the uncommon step of rousing itself to weigh in. And it didn’t end result on this observe getting a clear invoice of well being. From CNN in Covid pictures might barely improve danger of stroke in older adults, significantly when administered with sure flu vaccines:
Vaccines for Covid-19 and influenza might barely improve the danger of strokes attributable to blood clots within the brains of seniors, significantly when the 2 vaccines are given on the similar time and when they’re given to adults who’re age 85 and older, in line with a brand new research.
The security sign was detected by specialists on the US Meals and Drug Administration who analyzed information from Medicare claims.
It’s the second research to seek out an elevated danger of stroke for seniors after Covid-19 and flu vaccinations given collectively. The US Facilities for Illness Management and FDA issued a public communication in January explaining that one among their close to real-time vaccine security monitoring research — known as the Vaccine Security Datalink — had picked up a small and unsure danger of stroke for older adults who obtained a dose of Pfizer’s bivalent Covid-19 vaccine and a high-dose or adjuvanted flu shot on the identical day. That research triggered the FDA’s broader take a look at strokes after vaccination famous within the medical information of seniors on Medicare.
That mentioned, the danger recognized within the FDA’s research seems to be very small — roughly 3 strokes or transient ischemic assaults for each 100,000 doses given — and the research discovered it could be primarily pushed by the high-dose or adjuvanted flu vaccines, that are specifically designed to rev up the immune system so it mounts a stronger response to the shot….
A couple of weeks in the past, nonetheless, Dr. Peter Marks, head of FDA’s Heart for Biologics Analysis and Analysis, mentioned he was planning to get his Covid-19 vaccine first, adopted by his influenza vaccine about two weeks later.
“If you wish to reduce the possibility of interactions and reduce complicated the unwanted effects from one with one other, you wait about two weeks between the vaccines,” Marks mentioned on an FDA stakeholder name in September.
Thoughts you, this report coated solely getting the 2 vaccines, not Covid + flu shot + RSV vaccine, the brand new pharmacy trifecta. And it coated solely stroke danger, not getting flu-like signs….when the entire level is to not get sick or be the practical equal of sick.
And that’s earlier than flu vaccines having underwhelming efficacy. From a 2019 article in Vaccine:
Evaluation included 20,022 adults aged ≥18 years enrolled through the 2011–12 by way of 2015–16 influenza seasons; 4,785 (24%) examined constructive for influenza. VE amongst sufferers aged ≥65 years was not considerably decrease than VE amongst sufferers aged 18–49 years in opposition to any subtype with no vital interplay of age and vaccination. VE in opposition to A(H3N2) viruses was 14% (95% confidence interval [CI]−14% to 36%) for adults ≥65 years and 21% (CI 9%-32%) for adults 18–49 years. VE in opposition to A(H1N1)pdm09 was 49% (95% CI 22%-66%) for adults ≥65 years and 48% (95% CI 41%-54%) for adults 18–49 years and in opposition to B viruses was 62% (95% CI 44%–74%) for adults ≥65 years and 55% (95% CI 45%-63%) for adults 18–49 years. There was no vital interplay of age and vaccination for separate strata of prior vaccination standing.
GoodRx equally notes that flu vaccines sometimes have 40% to 60% efficacy.
On the CNN article and the vogue for doubling or tripling up on vaccinations:
That is being achieved in opposition to all traditions and suggestions of the previous. Now it’s Covid + flu pictures.
So far as I can inform, that is being achieved solely in pharmacies. These locations the place sufferers are known as “revenue facilities”. An 85 12 months outdated walks into Walgreens for a 25$ flu shot, after which immediately satisfied to get a Covid booster at 185$ a pop after which an RSV vaccine for $300. A 25$ go to immediately turns into 500$. Who cares in regards to the strokes. Or the large variety of them flat on their again for 3 days.
What a joke our complete system has turn into. If individuals solely knew how a lot of my day was taken up securing the money stream for Pharma they’d be shocked.
It’s miserable the diploma to which sufferers should be their very own advocates and never blindly comply with the recommendation of supposed medical professionals.
