Doctors say the time is now to get fall shots

The Spark

Cooler temperatures are expected in Pennsylvania soon, and that means another season of respiratory illnesses. The CDC is recommending the updated 2024-25 COVID-19 vaccines and the updated 2024-25 flu vaccines to protect against severe COVID-19 and flu this fall and winter. Dr. John Goldman, UPMC Infectious Disease Specialist seconds the vaccine recommendations from the CDC.

"So you can definitely get the Covid shot and the flu shot at the same time? Because all of these shots have side effects, I tend to try to have people space them out by a week or two apart. But one of the things that I really want to stress is the most important part isn't the timing. The most important part is getting the shot here. So if you have the choice, spaced them out a little bit because you might have fewer side effects. But but if you think, well, I'm not going to come to the pharmacy next week, my doctor's office isn't going to be able to get them next week and get them at the same time."

There's currently a new COVID-19 vaccine called Novavax and it's a standard DNA vaccine. If you already gad the vaccine, Dr. Goldman recommends getting a booster shot.

"This virus mutates so rapidly that if you had Covid a couple of years ago, or you had a vaccine a couple of years ago, you were vaccinated against older strains, the so-called legacy strains, the ones that came out originally. And this virus of value, has evolved a lot since then. And so the newer vaccines are tailored to the to be much closer to the variants that are currently circulating and will provide you with a lot better protection and, natural infection and vaccination, just for whatever reason, tend to fade out with time."

Covid is a virus, and being vaccinated will protect against severe disease and hospitalization.

"Covid is a virus. So Covid in most people you have you're going to fight it off. You're going to be cured of it because it will leave your system. There are a lot of people who have long Covid, so they will have side effects of Covid, but we think those side effects are more damage that the virus did before it left in damage, possibly from your immune response to the virus than the virus still being in your body. In addition, there are things mono, for example, that you get once and you never get again. Covid because it mutates so rapidly. You clearly. And because your immunity fades out, you can clearly get multiple times. Now, the vaccines, provide probably about 50% protection about from getting any Covid. Meaning if you get Covid, if you get the vaccine, your chances of getting any infection go down by roughly half. But they provide, great protection against severe disease and hospitalization."

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