MultiCare is looking for people in eastern Washington to participate in new Covid-vaccine-related research.
The health provider is part of a study by the pharmaceutical company Glaxo Smith Kline that explores what happens when you give Covid shots at the same time as, say, a flu shot.Dr. Jonathan Staben says that’s a practice endorsed by the CDC. Staben is the principal investigator for the clinical trial in the Inland Northwest and a family physician at MultiCare and Rockwood Clinic.
“This study aims to study what we’re doing in practice already but show that administering a Covid vaccine with either a flu vaccine or a shingles vaccine both, A, doesn’t change the immune response and, B, looks at the side effect profile reactions to the shot and so forth," he said.
Staben says there’s no evidence that mixing the Covid vaccine with other shots leads to harmful health issues, but different people react differently to vaccines.
He says MultiCare will recruit 100 people each from western and eastern Washington to participate. They must meet these criteria:
- Are 18 years and older
- Have received both doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at least six months prior
- Have not received any previous vaccination for influenza in the previous six months, or any previous shingles vaccination other than the live, attenuated vaccine
- Are not pregnant or planning to become pregnant within the next two months
- Participants who are younger than 50 years of age will only be eligible for the influenza vaccine, while participants older than 50 can receive either the influenza or shingles vaccine
They will get a third dose of the Moderna vaccine and either a flu or shingles shot and check in with researchers several times over the ensuing 24 weeks to monitor their health.
If you’re interested, you can contact Multicare at research@multicare.org.