LAist: COVID-19 Latest | FDA Study Looks Into Risk of Stroke for Those Pairing COVID and Flu Vaccinations

LAist program AirTalk recently interviewed Kimberly Shriner, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at Huntington Health, an affiliate of Cedars-Sinai, about the latest COVID-19 booster, the flu shot and whether it’s safe to get both at the same time.

Shriner told AirTalk host Austin Cross that both vaccines are highly effective at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death. She recommended getting them now because an uptick of the viruses that cause the flu and COVID-19 is expected this winter.

“I think there’s a little bit of fatigue with people when it comes to hearing about COVID and protecting themselves,” Shriner told Cross. “I think some people think that once they’ve had one shot, that gives them enough protection. We know that’s not the case. And I think that just like influenza, we highly recommend at least an annual, if not perhaps twice a year, vaccine for COVID.”

Cross mentioned that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently reported a slight increase in stroke risk among a small number of older adults who received the COVID-19 booster and the flu shot at the same time. Shriner told Cross that it is safe to get the vaccines simultaneously, but it’s also fine to space them out.

Shriner said that both of these vaccines are big stimulants of the immune system, which is tightly connected to the blood-clotting system.

“And so, it can sometimes increase the risk of stroke, but it’s very, very minuscule,” Shriner told Cross. “The benefits of these two vaccines far outweigh [the risks].”

Click here to listen to the entire segment on LAist.