COVID-19 Vaccination & Co-Administration of Vaccines
This article is part of MCMS’s 2021 observance of National Immunization Awareness Month.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused physicians to change how they operate to continue providing essential services to patients. Ensuring immunization services are maintained or reinitiated is essential for protecting individuals and communities from vaccine-preventable diseases and outbreaks and reducing the burden of respiratory illness during the upcoming influenza season.
The CDC previously recommended that COVID-19 vaccines be administered alone, with a minimum interval of 14 days before or after administration of any other vaccines. This was out of an abundance of caution and not due to any known safety or immunogenicity concerns.
However, substantial data have now been collected regarding the safety of COVID-19 vaccines currently authorized by FDA for use under EUA. The CDC also emphasized in its guidance that “although data are not available for COVID-19 vaccines administered simultaneously with other vaccines, extensive experience with non-COVID-19 vaccines has demonstrated that immunogenicity and adverse event profiles are generally similar when vaccines are administered simultaneously as when they are administered alone.”
The CDC now recommends that HCPs may administer COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines without regard to timing. This includes simultaneous administration of COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines (including live, attenuated vaccines such as the measles-mumps-rubella [MMR] vaccine) on the same day, as well as coadministration at any time interval. Learn more about coadministration with other vaccines: