Can mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines Be Co-Administered with Flu Shots?

Now that Seqirus and Novavax have set a benchmark for assessment into COVID-19 and influenza vaccine co-administration, it’s time to explore greater outcomes.

In the final segment of an interview with Contagion, study co-author Dr. Raja Rajaram, Medical Affairs Lead for EMEA at Seqirus, discussed the next steps of assessment between the collaborative vaccine developers, as they pursue precedence—and possibly, regulation—for COVID-19 and flu vaccine co-administration prior to the 2021-22 flu season.

After their assessment of recombinant protein COVID-19 vaccine candidate NVX-CoV2373 and 2 of Seqirus’ seasonal flu vaccines had preserved immune efficacy in administered volunteers versus placebo—without observed new safety concerns—Rajaram and colleagues are seeking outcomes in co-administration of their flu vaccines with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

That ongoing trial is taking place in the UK, and may have vast implications for the US population which has been predominately vaccinated against COVID-19 with Pfizer-BioNTech’s BNT162b2 and Moderna’s mRNA-1273.

Rajaram and colleagues are pursuing essentially similar endpoints across different COVID-19 vaccine types, he explained, with the priority being on adverse events.

“Reactogenicity is the key endpoint they’re looking for, and then they’re also going to be pursuing the immunogenicity of flu and COVID-19, of course,” he said.