Top FDA Official Suggests Spacing Out Vaccines to Avoid Side Effects

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in White Oak, Md., on June 5, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

A top official at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is suggesting people space out vaccines for COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

"I have to be an honest person and say that some people are saying, 'well, could I get RSV, COVID, and the flu vaccine on the same day?' Yes, indeed, you could," Dr. Peter Marks, the official, said. "But honestly, I might not just because each of them can potentially make one a little fatigued or have a little bit of a fever. And I might just want to space them out a little bit."

He added later, "Oftentimes, we suggest if you want to minimize the chance of interactions and minimize confusing side effects from one with another, you wait about two weeks between the vaccines."

But, he also said, "if you had to drive a lot of miles to get the vaccines, it might not be unreasonable to get all three of them at once."

Side effects of the vaccines include heart inflammation, severe allergic shock, and nausea.

Dr. Marks, the director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, was speaking during a recent call with agency stakeholders after the FDA approved and authorized new COVID-19 vaccines with practically no human data.

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) subsequently recommended COVID-19 shots for nearly all Americans, and advised many people to receive the influenza and RSV shots.

The CDC says (pdf) that administering two or three of the vaccines at the same time "is an acceptable practice." The CDC did not provide any studies supporting the practice. It previously cited a 1994 study.

Andrea Garcia, a vice president at the American Medical Association, said recently that "research is still ongoing to inform guidance on that co-administration," so people should talk to their doctor to discuss the matter.

The FDA says in fact sheets for the new COVID-19 vaccines that "data have not been submitted" to the FDA on administering the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines at the same time as other vaccines.

"If you are considering having your child receive Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine with other vaccines, discuss the options with your child’s healthcare provider," one fact sheet states. Health care providers were told in another: "There are no data to assess the concomitant administration of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine (2023-2024 Formula) with other vaccines."

Dr. James Johnston, a family doctor, told The Epoch Times before that he generally advises spacing out shots.

“In vaccine speak, you’re trying to induce immunity without the actual infection,” he said. “You’re creating a fake war to trick the immune system into producing immunity, so space out those wars as much as possible and you’re going to have less untoward side effects in my opinion.”

The new shots came just one year after the clearance and recommendation of bivalent vaccines, which, according to observational data, provided little protection for just a few months.

Dr. Marks said that data from 50 people who took Moderna's shot, and mice that received Pfizer's shot, indicate the updated vaccines will work better against new variants.

While U.S. officials are recommending vaccination for virtually all Americans aged 6 months or older, many other countries, including much of Europe, are either not recommending shots or not allowing shots for large portions of the populace, citing in part the levels of prior infection and/or vaccination among them.

Denmark, for example, is only offering influenza and COVID-19 vaccines to some people over the age of 65.

Florida is recommending against the new shots for people under 65, with Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida's surgeon general, noting the lack of data supporting them and how officials relied largely on studies and trials of older versions of the vaccines.

"For the FDA to point to clinical trials that were performed almost three years ago, actually approximately three years ago, as justification for making a decision now, when immunity is completely different, the circulating viruses and their pathogenicity, how serious they are in terms of the gravity of illness they cause is completely different, it's just ludicrous," Dr. Ladapo told EpochTV's "American Thought Leaders."