The CDC recommends getting a flu and COVID-19 vaccines at the same time, deeming this "coadministration" not only convenient but "safe." Its own researchers won't go that far, and neither will the FDA's, including the head of the agency's vaccine safety office.
Both agencies have now found a small risk of stroke in older people who get the two vaccines on the same day, part of increasing global interest in severe adverse events (SAEs) in older populations at naturally higher risk from SARS-CoV-2.
American and Italian researchers each published their findings on unexpected heart problems following COVID vaccination in populations not at risk for myocarditis and pericarditis, the SAEs most associated with young men, though both papers acknowledge the limitations of the data.
The two agencies' findings were laid out in an Oct. 25 presentation to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices by Tom Shimabukuro, director of the agency's Immunization Safety Office. Consistent with federal public health messaging, he repeatedly played down the findings.
