Got COVID and Flu vaccine this morning.
Arm is already warm and red.
I have an ice pack on it.
Am I doomed?
(No fancy bandaids like on TV either)
Only red/warm near the vaccination site itself, or over a much wider area?
Is this reaction a lot unexpectedly stronger/worse than your previous shots?
When I got the current Covid booster shot last week, about a 2" spot around the needle mark became swollen, hot and itchy. (I noticed it 12 hours later, it didn’t happen immediately.) It’s fine now, totally back to normal. It seems to be a common reaction (Google “covid arm”), just one I had never had before.
About the size of golf ball and puffy.
Itchy.
The ice pack helps.
The nurse said tonight I could put lidocaine on it. And to take ibuprofen.
I have had 1000s of injections in my life.
I had a bad reaction to the shingles vaccine. Self limiting. 2 days tops.
Don’t think I remember any of my other Covid or Flu vacs doing this. I’ve never had them the same day.
I don’t like telling this story because it could potentially provide grist for the anti-vax idiots, but I once got an infection from a flu shot. I got the shot, had the usual redness and pain for a day or so, which then subsided. Then about a week later I started feeling pain at the injection site again. A couple days later it was very painful with a golf-ball-sized swelling. I saw my doctor; by that time I had a fever of 103. He was shocked and said that he’d been taught in medical school that such a thing could happen but in over 40 years of practice had never seen it. He treated me with some serious antibiotics and got it resolved. (There’s a bit more to the story; I also had an unusual reaction to one of the antibiotics, which the doctor also said he’d never seen before. Really didn’t want to hear that sentence a second time.)
However I seriously doubt that this is what’s happening in your case Beck. One days is too short a time for an infection to develop. Probably just the usual vaccination reaction, a bit worse than usual because of the double dose. I’ve had Covid and flu vaccines together several times and it’s been slightly worse than the single vaccine but not a lot worse.
Was it a dirty needle? Or was the flu vaccine liquid itself somehow not sterile?
I have no idea. I was never informed about what might have caused it or if they even did any investigation. I’ve thought about it a lot since then and I’m actually surprised it doesn’t happen more often. Seems like it would be easy for the needle to pick up some bacteria on the skin and drag it in, even with the perfunctory alcohol swipe they usually do.
ETA I have taken to superstitiously doing my own very thorough alcohol wipe before I walk in to the vaccination place.
Yikes. Double yikes!
No, I don’t think it’s anything like that. Yours was seemingly a rare occurrence.
I will add insulin injections occasionally get a bit of tiny skin infection if you get lazy with the alcohol swabbing.
I’m like you, I’m careful about vaccines and any other shots. Probably in the extreme.
Just how I roll.
I’ve never tried having two vaxes at once. (Other than things like TDAP that are designed as multiple unrelated vaxes in one dose).
That seems to me to be if not playing with fire, at least running some risk of greater discomfort or a somewhat incomplete immune response to the priming. For that’s worth two trips to the pharmacy on two days a few days apart.
OTH, I don’t have the logistical challenges nor health challenges the OP contends with every day.
Yeah. They love giving me injections. Vac’s especially.
There’s no way I could catch anything. I’m full of anti-which-its.
Watch me get snake bit now.
Arrrggghh.
I just had my Covid and flu updates two hours ago, and so far I’m fine. Never had a problem. But I like shots. When I was a little kid, pre-K, I got allergy tests which back in the mid-50s were real needles. My mom bought me a plastic dinosaur at the five and dime next to the clinic after each one, so for me the shots were more pleasure than pain.
My arm was more sore from this COVID vax (Pfizer) than from previous ones.
No, it’s dirty skin.
The nurse is supposed to wipe the spot so it is sterile , before inserting the needle.
Your skin is crawling with bacteria. They do no harm on the outside, but if they get pushed into the blood, they cause serious problens.
I get injections every two weeks for a health condition. Shots don’t bother me. I got the flu vaccine and Covid booster at the same time. Getting to a vaccine location isn’t easy when you can’t drive, plus two long waits didn’t appeal to me. My arm got warm and was quite sore for two days. No puffiness, but a red area the size of a baseball.
Hope your arm is better tomorrow.
Ain’t it lovely to think about 
I’m picturing @Beckdawrek crouching in an alley behind the pharmacy passing a syringe around, sharing vaccines.
That would be a great sf story, when the anti-vaxxers take over. I love it.
That might be a tiche too close to reality.
I have real fear of having to buy insulin from a skeevy dealer.
Vax? I just I have to hope there’s enough in me for awhile.
After that avoidance is the only recourse.
That reminds me - I can get a free flu shot at work tomorrow. Then I won’t have to get it with a covid shot.
Although I probably should get the newer shingles shot. Still don’t want two on the same day.
Anyway, hope your arm is better soon.
In the UK the guidelines do not require sterilization of the skin before a subcutaneous injection, and I have both flu and Covid vaccinations regularly.
When I have both at the same time, I get one in each arm.