this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
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I'm actually a little surprised there isn't a combined influenza/covid vaccine, unless there's a storage or incompatible carrier issue I'm not aware of (immunology is not my field, so this is entirely possible). As an independent consultant, getting sick pulls money out of my pocket, and being down a week due to flu can cost me $5k or more in income. Plus, I don't want any of the exciting long term complications, even if rare, from a bout with Covid. I say stick me with a needle and slap my ass on the way out the door.
Current COVID vaccines are mRNA, which is unstable and needs -80⁰C storage. And while there are protein-based vaccines, mRNA are easier to update. So I think we'll keep getting those while the virus is evolving rapidly.
They don't all need ultra low temperatures anymore
Moderna can be as warm as -15c
This doesn't have em all, but it shows they've gotten better than the initial ultra low temp requirements.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.ehealthsask.ca/services/Manuals/Documents/Appendix-A-Monovalent-mRNA-Storage-Handling-Summary.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi2qOiv47eAAxWfODQIHchMCUYQFnoECBQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2kdFM2ufOep7Fft9Z-0XWT
Good news. Thanks. Still colder than flu but freezers are widespread.
Yeah. Basically, when they were making the vaccines, they were like, Okay, we don't know exactly how warm we can successfully store them at and have them remain good. But we definitively know that if we store them at this incredibly good temperature, it'll stay good. Rather than have people dying while we play around with variables when we don't need to, we'll just do things at the temperatures we know are good, and we'll research and figure out the warmer temperatures later on.. And now it's later on, so ...
That hasn’t been true for a long time. You can store Moderna/Pfizer at fridge temp for 30 days and 6 months at -25, which is fairly easy to achieve at pharmacies. They just weren’t playing around when they first certified it and removed as many variables as possible. They recertified back in 2021 to allow much warmer temps.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/info-by-product/moderna/downloads/storage-summary.pdf
They are working on mRNA flu vaccines. At least some of point, that'll be on the market and combinable with the Covid one.
Everything has been moving to fast to have one so far, but I honestly thought this fall might be the first year that happens. It'll happen eventually