One Office Visit, Multiple Vaccines: When is it OK?

Both adult and pediatric studies show that giving multiple indicated vaccines on the same day results in higher vaccine rates.

Thus, if a 65-year-old man is in your office for an annual flu vaccine and is also due for a pneumococcal vaccine then give both. Yes, the patient may say he only wants one at a time and promises to return next week for the second shot, but experienced clinicians know that for whatever reason that return visit often never happens.

In general, any 2 vaccines, live or nonlive, can be given on the same day (several exceptions exist in pediatrics).

Take a quick, 2-question quiz to test what you know.


1. Some, but not all, experts also recommend not giving which of the following sets of 2 vaccines to adults at the same time?