Russian health ministry gives nod to administer COVID and flu shots simultaneously

In the latest update to the use of Sputnik V's COVID-19 shot in Russia, the country’s health ministry has given the nod to administer the jab simultaneously with a flu shot. As per news agency TASS, the Russian health ministry’s press service said in a statement on Friday, October 22, “Russia’s Health Ministry has authorised simultaneous vaccination against COVID and influenza, as corresponding changes have been made to the instructions for the medical use of the Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik V) vaccine.”

The Russian Health Ministry also reportedly said that studies have revealed that when COVD-19 and flu vaccines are administered simultaneously, their effectiveness remains unaffected. The news agency quoted the press service saying, “The combination of Sputnik V with the influenza vaccine has been studied in preclinical trials, showing no decrease in immunogenicity of both vaccines when they are administered simultaneously. When COVID and flu vaccines are administered simultaneously, the shots are injected to different parts of the body, for example, the left and right shoulders.”

COVD-19 spikes in Russia

The Russian health ministry’s amendment to Sputnik V usage guidelines came when on Friday, the country recorded a new single-day record of 37,141 COVID-19 cases. As per ANI, Friday’s Coronavirus cases witnessed an increase from the previous record of 36,339 cases that were registered a day before. The cumulative total of COVID-19 cases in the country has been spiked to 8,168,305, according to the federal response centre.

"Over the past day, 37,141 Covid-19 cases were confirmed across 85 Russian regions, including 3,397 cases (9.1 per cent) without clinical symptoms," the centre said, as per ANI, and added that the rate of increase grew to 0.46%.

Notably, Moscow has the highest number of new Coronavirus infections in the country with at least 8,166 infections which are up from 7,897 registered on Thursday. In terms of COVID-19 cases, Moscow is followed by St Petersburg with 3,233 cases which were down from 3,280. On Friday, the response centre has also reported a new record of 1,064 fatalities linked to Coronavirus, bringing the national tally to 228,453.

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(With ANI inputs)