WASHINGTON — As of May 26, just over 50% of Americans over the age of 18 have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. As of that same day, the CDC reports more than 289 million vaccine doses have been administered.
The Verify team receives a lot of questions about the COVID-19 vaccines and the most recent official recommendations surrounding them. Verify viewer Gene emailed asking about the safety of getting other vaccines around the same time as your COVID-19 shot.
THE QUESTION
Verify viewer Gene asked, “If I am fully vaccinated against COVID, can I get vaccinated against other diseases such as shingles and not affect the potency of the COVID vaccination?”
THE SOURCES
- Dr. Linda Nabha, infectious diseases expert at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
- Dr. William Schaffner, professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University
- Dr. William Moss, Executive Director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
THE ANSWER
Our experts say YES, you can get other vaccinations after your COVID-19 shot.
WHAT WE FOUND
All of the experts gave an enthusiastic "NO" when asked whether getting other vaccines will affect the potency of your COVID-19 vaccine, or vice versa. There's no evidence which says your COVID-19 vaccine would be less effective after getting a different immunization, like for shingles.
At the start of the vaccination rollout, the CDC advised Americans to wait two weeks before and after their COVID-19 vaccine to receive any other shots. Since then, recommendations have been updated to say, “COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines may now be administered without regard to timing.”
Dr. Moss told the Verify team via email that it's possible that co-administering vaccines could cause worse symptoms like soreness, fever or fatigue, but it is not known for sure yet.
Despite this, he told us the answer to Gene's question is “yes”, you can get other vaccines without impacting the COVID-19 vaccine efficacy.