MSN Article – October 26th, 2023

Concurrent use of COVID and flu shots is linked to stroke risk in older adults.

A study backed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has detected a slightly increased risk of stroke in older adults who received COVID-19 bivalent vaccines and influenza vaccines together.

The analysis was based on administrative files of more than 5.3M Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years and older who received influenza vaccines and COVID-19 bivalent shots developed by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/ BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX), and Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) from August 31 to November 6, 2022.

The investigators found no elevated stroke risk in the study group after they received only bivalent COVID shots. However, the concomitant use of bivalent shots and high-dose/adjuvanted flu shots led to an increased risk of non-hemorrhagic stroke (NHS) and transient ischemic attack (TIA), the researchers wrote in their study findings ahead of peer review.

FDA authorized flu vaccine makers include: CSL Limited (OTCQX:CSLLY) (OTCQX:CMXHF), GSK (NYSE:GSK), Sanofi (SNY) (OTCPK:SNYNF) (GCVRZ), and AstraZeneca (AZN) (OTCPK:AZNCF)