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What if you could protect yourself against both flu and Covid-19 with just one shot? How might a combined vaccine change the way Americans approach their yearly vaccinations?
Scientists are making significant progress toward developing a joint vaccine (flu and Covid-19) that could simplify annual immunizations. Moderna’s recent research shows promising results, suggesting their combination shot could offer better protection than separate vaccines administered together.
Keep reading to discover how this medical advancement could reshape the future of seasonal vaccinations and potentially boost immunization rates across the US.
Joint Vaccine (Flu and Covid-19)
It’s tempting to consider the Covid-19 pandemic over. But health experts warn that the virus is still with us. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that everyone get vaccinated against Covid-19 each year, just like it recommends getting an annual flu shot. Pharmaceutical companies are working on the next generation of vaccines against both respiratory viruses—including combined vaccines that could confer protection against both the flu and Covid-19 with a single shot.
Moderna recently announced that its joint vaccine (flu and Covid-19) produced a stronger immune response than separate flu and Covid-19 vaccines administered together. These results haven’t yet been peer-reviewed or published. But they hint at what the future of the flu shot might look like: A combined flu and Covid-19 vaccine could be available as soon as the fall of 2025 (or fall 2026) pending the vaccine’s approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
We’ll take a look at how experts think a combined flu and Covid-19 vaccine might change Americans’ vaccination rates.
How Would a Combined Vaccine Change Americans’ Vaccination Choices?
Early in the pandemic, the first Covid-19 vaccines were released (under emergency use authorization) in as short a timeframe as possible, with the goal of preventing serious illness, hospitalizations, and deaths in a population with no immunity to the virus. Health officials have since shifted their strategy to update the Covid-19 vaccine each fall, ahead of cold and flu season in the winter. Like the flu shot, each year’s Covid-19 vaccine is targeted to the variant (or group of variants) that is most likely to be circulating at the height of respiratory virus season.
Moderna’s new mRNA vaccine contains components of both flu and Covid-19 vaccines. Both vaccines used in this combination shot are experimental and use mRNA technology. Combined vaccines could be targeted each year to the strains of Covid-19 and influenza that are expected to be dominant in the upcoming season.Moderna says its combined vaccine could improve lagging vaccination rates. Making it easy for people to be vaccinated against two viruses at the same time could help eliminate uncertainty about which shot to get and when. But convincing more people to get vaccinated against the flu and Covid-19 each fall will be a challenge even when the lab work and clinical trials are finished: Vaccination rates against both flu and Covid-19 are lower than health experts would prefer for a variety of complex reasons.
What Will the Future of Flu and Covid-19 Vaccines Look Like?
As the virus that causes Covid-19 continues to mutate, acquiring genetic changes that alter its proteins and enable it to evade our immunity, scientists will have to keep formulating vaccines to match. They’re also pursuing goals like creating a universal influenza vaccine (which would be effective against every strain of the flu), or developing universal vaccines that would prevent serious illness caused by future, unknown variants of Covid-19. Some even hope to develop a universal vaccine against all coronaviruses. Such universal vaccines could potentially replace annual flu or Covid-19 shots—depending on how effective they are, and against which viruses.
Some observers warn that the lack of interest in the latest version of the vaccines may impact the amount of money that companies are willing to invest in future Covid-19 vaccines. Public health messaging about the virus might also influence levels of investment in vaccine development. But experts hope that in the coming years, a combined flu and Covid-19 shot could increase vaccination rates against both diseases—and keep people out of the hospital at the height of cold and flu season.

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