With health experts recommending Americans get two (or even three) different vaccines this cold and flu season, you may find yourself rolling up your sleeve a couple of times soon. 

You may also notice your arm hurts for a day or two after getting your shots. Why is that? 

Fortunately, you aren’t alone. 

For all three of the vaccine health experts are recommending this season — the flu shot, the newest COVID booster, and the RSV vaccine for older Americans — the CDC notes pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site are among the most common side effects.

Read more at The Hill.

Older adults who received last year’s COVID booster and a high-dose version of the flu vaccine in the same visit may have a potential increased risk of stroke, according to a new FDA-funded study.

Experts urged that the results were preliminary and may be explained by other factors such as the fact that older adults are already at a higher risk for stroke due to their age.

“There is no need for panic, and emphatically no need to stop giving COVID and flu shots at the same time to older adults,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, while he reiterated that more research is needed.

Read more at ABC.

There are many good reasons to get a flu shot this fall, but here’s one that might surprise you: It could protect your brain.

Recent research suggests that regular vaccinations against influenza and other infectious diseases such as shingles, pneumococcal pneumonia, and tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough) may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

“Vaccines are the great public health success story of our generation,” said Paul E. Schulz, professor of neurology and director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Center at the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, who led several of the studies. “They keep you safe from any number of infections, many of which can be life-threatening. And now it appears there is another tremendous benefit, this one against a disease that is among the most feared.”

Read more at The Washington Post.

While the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone 6 months and older should receive the annual flu vaccine, most people haven’t – at least not yet. Only 22.7% of adults and 20.8% of children have gotten the flu shot this fall, according to CDC data from October 14.

Why is it important for everyone eligible to receive the flu shot? How effective is it? Do people who have had the flu before still need a shot? Why is it necessary every year? When is the best time to get it? And what else should people do to stay healthy as the weather gets colder?

To help us with these questions, I spoke with our CNN Wellness medical expert, Dr. Leana Wen. Dr. Wen is an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She previously served as Baltimore’s health commissioner.

Read more at CNN.

The risks of severe neonatal morbidity, neonatal death, and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit were all significantly lower during the first month of birth in infants whose mothers were vaccinated against Covid-19, and protection against the virus continued for up to six months after birth, according to a new study published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics.

“We hypothesized that this might be because we know that severe Covid in pregnancy is associated with pregnancy complications and so by protecting the mom, you would expect that perhaps incidence would be at a lower risk for some of those severe outcomes,” said Sarah Jorgensen, a researcher and pharmacist at the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto and the first author on the study.

Read more at STAT News.

As mothers who have both lost a child, we often say we’re in a club that we want no one else to ever join.

We started our individual foundations and the Meningitis B Action Project after we each lost our young, healthy daughters too soon to a now vaccine-preventable disease, Meningitis B.

Kimberly (Patti’s daughter), 17, died one week before her high school graduation. College sophomore Emily (Alicia’s daughter), 19, died just 36 hours after her first symptoms.

Meningococcal disease is one of the most common types of bacterial meningitis. It is a life-threatening bacterial infection that can affect the lining of the brain and spinal cord, or it can cause an infection in the bloodstream – or both. Ten to 15 percent of those who contract meningitis die. For those who survive, 20 percent will suffer permanent disabilities such as brain damage, hearing loss, loss of kidney function or limb amputations.

Read more at The Oakland Press.

Here we go again: respiratory virus season. For the first time this year, though, we have vaccines against our big three threats: flu, RSV and COVID. But vaccines in vials do not equal vaccinations in arms. Only 17 percent of Americans got last fall’s COVID vaccine. What do we do in a time of extreme fatigue, loss of trust, disinformation, politicization and lack of public health funds for education and outreach?

There is a solution. All of us—friends, family, neighbors, schools, pharmacies, doctor offices, health departments—need to be laser-focused on reaching a group called “passive positives.” These people have gotten COVID shots in the past and generally approve of vaccination. But they are unlikely to expend energy to find out where they can get another shot and are likely ambivalent about receiving one. They may feel good about the protection it confers but not so good about the prospect of side effects (yet again). Many of them are actively trying not to think about viruses this fall.

Read more at Scientific American.

COVID infection can raise the risk of a rare immune system attack on the body’s nerves — but vaccination might protect against it, a large new study suggests.

The study, of more than 3 million Israeli adults and teenagers, found that COVID infection was linked to a substantially increased risk of developing Guillain-Barre syndrome in the next six weeks.

GBS is a rare condition where the immune system launches a misguided attack on the body’s own nerve tissue. It causes symptoms like weakness and tingling in the limbs, difficulty walking and even paralysis.

Read more at U.S. News.

John Legend isn’t taking chances when it comes to keeping his family healthy.

In an interview with “CBS Mornings” Wednesday, the singer and father of four, 44, shared why he thinks it’s important to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“I believe in making sure everyone in my family is protected,” he said. “The thing about the virus is, it changes, it mutates, and so it’s good to have vaccines that are updated.”

Read more at CBS.

With a new COVID booster out and flu season just around the corner, staff at Safeway pharmacies are working hard to meet demand. 

“We are busy,” said Amanda Wong, Director of Pharmacy at Safeway. “What we’re seeing is definitely a steady increase in the folks interested to receive the updated COVID shot.”

But while people are rolling up their sleeves for the latest COVID booster and flu shot, nationwide data from the CDC shows fewer pregnant people are getting the recommended immunizations. 

Read more at 9 News.