Can Flu Vaccine be given with other Vaccines?
Short Answer: Yes. For the long answer and the whys read on.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is Benjamin Franklin’s most famous quote. Vaccination is the ounce of prevention, considered one of the twentieth century’s best public health achievements. Its contribution in singlehandedly keeping children safe and healthy all over the world is undisputed.
Consider Flu. Swine Flu, Bird flu keep visiting the world causing 30 lakhs to 60 lakhs severe cases with 2.9 lakh to 6.5 lakh respiratory annual mortality [1]. The vaccine is available on-demand. But only a section of aware people vaccinates their kids and get vaccinated.
When to give a flu shot in India?
How far apart should flu vaccines be given? In India, every person over six months needs to take the Flu vaccine at least annually. You need the Flu vaccine at least yearly since the Influenza virus keeps changing its genetic makeup.
The vaccines for a year reflect the strains which are more likely to be prevalent during that year. It’s best if you take the vaccine shot in good time before the Flu season. It usually takes at least two weeks for the immunity to be adequate. For India, the right time to vaccinate is before the monsoons.
Before Flu season comes, we as a family get ready to fight Flu every year without fail. It’s the best way to prevent what can be prevented. Vaccines are excellent in preventing complications from diseases, and as a parent, that’s my first wish.
Flu and other vaccines
As a doctor, I often get asked if the flu vaccine can be given along with another one on the Immunization schedule on the same day. The answer is yes, you can. The Flu vaccine is a killed vaccine, so you can take another killed or live vaccine on the same day with a different syringe at different sites. An example, my cousin’s daughter was due for her Flu vaccine. She could take the MMR and Flu vaccine on the same visit.
The general rule is as follows:
For live vaccines: You can take them on the same day (different sites and different syringes) or after 4 weeks.
For an inactivated vaccine/toxoid: You can take it any time.
How does an inactivated vaccine work?
When an inactivated virus vaccine or a virus subunit vaccine is injected into the white blood cells, a germ-fighting mechanism gets geared to fight it. They train their first line of soldiers(NK cells), their second line of defense(cellular and antibody-mediated). Then finally, they tell their data entry operators (memory B and T cells)to enter this into the hard disk of your defense memory. It’s only after the second or further dose of the vaccine that adequate immunity to the germ happens.
Do live vaccines need a second dose
Common live vaccines include MMR, Varicella. Since they can still replicate, a single dose is enough, and the cellular immunity is robust. The second live virus vaccine is thus best given either at the same time or after 4 weeks. But if given at inappropriate gaps before 4 weeks, the immune cells will fail to work with as much syncing as maximally possible.
The immune response to both vaccines may turn out to be less than adequate, with a high chance of vaccine failure.
Vaccination and immunization are often used interchangeably. But vaccination means the process of getting vaccines. Immunization means induction of immunity. Vaccination on time in the proper way provides immunization. Vaccines are a priority for most families. Depending on the child’s age, the prevalence of diseases, and the immune status of kids, immunization varies between countries. The national immunization schedules are so planned to prevent erratic vaccination, boosters and to avoid missed doses.
Takeaway:
- The annual Flu shot protects.
- Killed vaccines or live vaccines can be taken at any time of taking the Flu vaccine.
We must #PreventWhatCanBePrevented because flu is preventable with vaccination.
Reference:
- https://www.bewiseimmunise.sanofipasteur.in/preventwhatcanbeprevented
- Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine
- Nelson Text book of Pediatrics
- https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/keyfacts.htm
- https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/influenza-(seasonal)
One of the best descriptive explanations for this vaccine I’ve read. Important that the public realize the importance of this vaccine #PreventWhatCanBePrevented
This is exactly what we needed to understand. The blog helped lot of doubts about taking the Flu vaccines when we are already taking covid vaccine too.
Thank you Dr for such detailed and informative post about flu vaccinations. We have so many misconceptions, so clarification from a medical practitioner helps clarify our doubts.