Q: Can I Get Both Flu Vaccines at the Same Time?

By Julie Stachowiak, PhD
Multiple Sclerosis Guide; Guest blogger

Some people that I have talked to have waited a while this year to get their seasonal flu vaccines. One person asked, "I heard that the first doses of the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccines will be available in a couple of weeks. Can I just go ahead and get both the seasonal flu vaccine and the H1N1 vaccine at the same time?"

Here are the rules:

Flu shots: Yes, since injected flu vaccines are inactivated (killed), you can get those at the same time. You can also get any other vaccine you might need at that time, as well, such as the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccaride vaccine (PPV23).

FluMist: You cannot get the two different FluMist (inhaled, live) vaccines at the same time. However, you can get one live flu vaccine for one type of flu and one shot for the other at the same time. If you want to get FluMist for both types of influenza, you should wait at least 4 weeks between the vaccines.