Vaccination against Covid-19 requires two injections, or even three, a few weeks apart. What to do when you also have to do other vaccines? Can we chain the injections over a few weeks?
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Fragile people must be vaccinate against the flu at the start of thewinter. Teenagers should receive the HPV vaccine (human papillomavirus) around 11-13 years. A reminder of the dTpa vaccine (diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough acellular, poliomyelitis) is necessary at the age of 6 years, then around 11-13 years. While children can now also receive the vaccine against Covid-19 from the age of 5, how to organize the injections? Are there no risks in accumulating several vaccines over a few weeks?
What is the interval between two vaccines?
Some people legitimately fear that it is dangerous for the immune system to be overstimulated. It is nothing. Our body is designed to fight several diseases at the same time. For example, in winter, we are constantly confronted with multiple virus (gastroenteritis, flu, bronchitis, nasopharyngitis…)
All non-live vaccines can be done at the same time, on the same day. On the other hand, the injection points must be different. There is no time interval to respect between the administration of two non-live vaccines. Moreover, it is common for several vaccines are administered at the same time, in the same syringe as dTpaP (4 diseases). These are called combined vaccines.
In babies, we even go up to 6 vaccines in a single injection with the so-called vaccines hexavalents. Babies receive two injections: at 2 months and then at 4 months. The hexavalent vaccine protects against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, poliomyelitis,Hepatitis B and thehaemophilus influenzae b.
Another example: the vaccination travellers. It is common to get vaccinated against yellow fever and against meningitis at the same time before leaving for certain areas. These are referred to as co-administered vaccines.
In babies, we even go up to 6 vaccines in a single injection with so-called hexavalent vaccines
For information, vaccines against coronavirus are all non-live vaccines. Live vaccines attenuated available are: dengue fever, yellow fever, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), rotavirus, varicella, shingles, and BCG. the MMR vaccine must be done in isolation to prevent it from diminishing the immune response of other vaccines.
So why space the Covid-19 vaccine 15 days from other vaccines?
To facilitate the monitoring of adverse effects of vaccines against Covid-19, it was recommended not to administer other vaccines between the two doses of vaccine against the coronavirus and to wait a period of two weeks after the second dose of this vaccine. Indeed, if two vaccines are administered on the same day and an adverse effect occurs, it will be very difficult to attribute it to one or the other of the two vaccines. This decision was taken solely out of pharmacovigilance logic. This precautionary measure is not necessary for the other vaccines since their undesirable effects are now perfectly known.
Moreover, this interval of “only” two weeks highlights light an important fact, often unknown to the general public: vaccines cannot produce adverse effects on the long term. For the HAS (High Authority of Health), two weeks of observation after the injection are sufficient.
To conclude, there is no risk in receiving several vaccines in a few weeks. On the other hand, there is a risk in forgetting to make a reminder. Some of them must be done within a very strict time frame to get maximum protection. Offering several vaccines at the same time saves time and comfort for users and provides better general protection for the population.
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