Can you get a vaccine with flu or Covid symptoms? Understand

At the end of March, the flu vaccination campaign began in several regions of Brazil. Recently, the Ministry of Health announced the expansion of the target audience for vaccination against dengue with doses of vaccines close to their expiration date. Given this scenario — and the importance of keeping your vaccination record up to date for other diseases as well — some doubts may arise. One of the most common is whether you can get the vaccine if you have any flu or Covid symptoms .

According to Rosana Richtmann, vaccine consultant at Delboni, a brand belonging to Dasa, the recommendation is avoid taking vaccines with symptoms of an infectious disease, such as fever and malaise. “The ideal is to wait at least 72 hours until we understand what is happening, what the disease is, and then get vaccinated,” he says to CNN .

The expert explains that It is important to wait for the infection to end that is causing the symptoms because the immune system may not respond adequately to vaccines during this period. “The immune system is busy fighting an infectious agent. Therefore, the immune response to the vaccine may be impaired,” he explains. In other words, the vaccine may not be adequately effective when administered in the face of infectious symptoms.

Furthermore, some vaccines, such as the flu, can cause mild reactions, such as low fever, muscle pain and malaise. These reactions can be confused with an infectious condition, as the symptoms are also common in viral diseases, such as the flu itself, Covid-19 and dengue. “In view of this, it is essential to wait 72 hours without fever or show clinical improvement to take the vaccine”, reinforces Richtmann.

In 2024, flu vaccination will take place in the first half of the year in the Northeast, Central-West, Southeast and South regions, while in the North it will take place in the second half. This strategy aims to meet the climatic particularities of each region. Find out more about vaccination here.

The expansion of the dengue vaccine was announced last week for the age group of 6 to 16 years in municipalities that still have a high number of doses due on April 30. These vaccines are part of the amount donated to Brazil in February.

According to the Ministry of Health, municipalities that remain with low adherence will be able to expand to the target audience specified in the dengue vaccine leaflet, which ranges from 4 to 59 years old. This measure should be adopted if necessary, so that doses are not wasted.

Importance of keeping vaccinations up to date

Although it is not recommended to be vaccinated when you have symptoms of infectious diseases, it is worth planning and waiting for full recovery from the disease to be properly immunized. Keeping your vaccination record up to date is essential to guarantee your own and collective health, preventing the circulation of viruses with epidemic potential.

This is fundamental, especially given the low vaccination coverage evident in Brazil in recent years. In 2015, for example, it was the last to reach the 95% vaccination coverage rate, the necessary target of vaccinated people to consider a disease under control. With the low immunization rate, according to experts, the population is more vulnerable to diseases and infections.

Given this, PAHO (Pan American Health Organization) created the 22nd Vaccination Week in the Americas to promote equity and access to vaccination in all countries in the Region. The 2024 campaign takes place from 20 to 27/4, also encompassing the 13th World Immunization Week (SMI), in the last week of April.