COVID Q&A Can I have Covid and flu jabs together, and could a pill save us?
Q
Can I have a Covid booster at the same time as my flu jab? A
Yes. A study published on Friday showed it is safe. Researchers at the University of Bristol looked at 679 volunteers due to have their second dose of the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine.
Half had the flu jab alongside their second Covid vaccine, the other half were given a placebo.
Three weeks later they returned, and those who’d had the placebo got the real thing and vice versa.
The study showed there was no discernable difference in side effects between the two groups or levels of antibodies – an important indicator of a vaccine’s success.
It is not unusual for multiple vaccines to be given at once, but the study will reassure the 30million Britons eligible for a booster jab, as they are the same group expected to have a flu shot.
Dr Rajeka Lazarus of University Hospitals Bristol, who led the study, said: ‘We have been able to establish that it is possible to protect people from Covid-19 and flu at the same appointment. This is a really positive step.’
Q
I’ve heard there’s now a pill that cures Covid – is it true?
ANo. The closest we have to a cure for serious Covid illness is the vaccine, which stops patients being hospitalised in about
90-95 per cent of cases.
An effective pill could be gamechanging, given that hundreds of thousands of people will not mount a good immune-system response to the vaccine, and more are unvaccinated.
But results of an international trial testing the drug, molnupiravir, appear very promising.
When the antiviral pill was given within six days of the onset of symptoms to 400 patients with at least one risk factor for severe Covid-19, it slashed the risk of hospitalisation by half. It works by interfering with the mechanism that viral cells use to replicate many times over,.
The outcome is far better than dexamethasone, which cuts the risk of death by a third in severely ill, hospitalised patients.
Experts are optimistic but cautious. Dr Simon Clarke, Associate Professor in Cellular Microbiology at the University of Reading, said: ‘This news is positive, but we must not be carried away. There is still no cure for Covid.’