Can I Administer the Influenza Vaccine to a Patient with Zika?
Stephen Redd, MD (RADM, USPHS), Director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), discusses if the influenza vaccine can be administered to a patient with Zika.
Stephen Redd, MD (RADM, USPHS), Director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), discusses if the influenza vaccine can be administered to a patient with Zika.
Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)
“The illness that Zika virus causes for adults is not a severe illness and so [an] influenza vaccine should not be withheld from someone that might have Zika. That really would be the advice. There’s no contraindication or a reason not to give the influenza vaccine. [The clinician should] really be taking advantage of every opportunity to give [an] influenza vaccine as it is something that is really important. There’s this period of time [before] influenza season that everybody should get vaccinated against influenza. [That is] everyone over 6 months of age.”
