State Health Officials Encourage Residents to Get the Flu and COVID Vaccine

Thursday, September 16th, 2021 -- 11:00 AM

(WMTV) As the Delta variant continues to spread across Wisconsin, we are now entering into flu season.

Medical professionals say when it comes to these viruses, it’s not a bad idea to double up on vaccinations. “Both [COVID-19] and flu vaccines play nice together,” Matthew Mabie, Pharmacist and owner of Forward Pharmacy in Cottage Grove said.

Mabie encourages patients to get their flu vaccine and COVID-19 doses together; one in each arm. “It’s no different than if you did them separately,” Mabie said. Mabie said the concept of getting multiple vaccines at the same time is not new.

“We do this anytime someone goes in for a physical under the age of six, there getting, multiple vaccines at once, we’ve done it for many years, “Mabie said. “And the adult population, whether someone’s traveling.”

Nasia Safdar, the Director of Infection Prevention at UW-Health, said getting both vaccines at once is both safe and efficient. “It’s the difference between figuring out that appointment or figuring out a different place you can go and get the other one and that’s an additional step and there are people who won’t come back for that,” Safdar said.

Safdar also said being proactive by protecting yourself from both viruses can help hospitals as we enter flu season. “The thing with COVID, is that it takes very little for health systems to be stretched to the limit because cases rise exponentially, and you can have a few cases one day and a lot more the following day and with flu on top of that it could lead to a season that’s pretty difficult moving forward,” Safdar said.

So next time you roll up your sleeve for one, Mabie says to consider adding the other. “We’ve already done that with many patients and had very little side effects,” Mabie said.

Mabie says the pandemic has caused many patients to fall behind on their vaccinations. You can find your information on the Wisconsin Immunization Registry to see what you need to catch up on.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.