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Older adults have a lot of vaccine requirements: a seasonal flu shot, a series of shingles shots, and now a COVID-19 booster, too.

To streamline the vaccination process, Pfizer and BioNTech have developed a single dose, mRNA-based combination vaccine that protects against both seasonal influenza and Covid. The drug companies are testing the vaccine candidate now in a phase 1 study.

Sponsored by BioNTech, the randomized study last fall began enrolling 180 adults ages 18 to 64. Researchers will follow up with participants for six months.

The study is designed to evaluate the dual vaccine candidate’s safety, tolerability, and ability to provoke an immune response.

BioNTech pointed out that the two-at-once approach can protect more people.

“By combining both indications in one vaccine approach, we aim to provide individuals with an efficient way to receive immunization against two severe respiratory diseases with evolving viruses that require vaccine adaptation,” Prof. Ugur Sahin, M.D., CEO and co-founder of BioNTech, said in a statement.

The shot “combines Pfizer’s quadrivalent mRNA-based influenza vaccine candidate with the companies’ Omicron-adapted bivalent COVID-19 vaccine,” according to a statement from both companies.

Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology was effective in developing the original Covid vaccine.

“The flexibility and manufacturing speed of the mRNA technology has demonstrated that it is well-suited for other respiratory diseases,” said Annaliesa Anderson, Ph.D., Pfizer’s senior vice president and chief scientific officer of vaccine research and Development.

According to the companies’ statement, this is the fourth time Pfizer and BioNTech have collaborated. They first worked together in the infectious diseases field in 2018 on a flu vaccine. Then, in 2020, they collaborated on a Covid vaccine. Last year they began working together on a shingles vaccine.

Members of the public can report vaccine side effects to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). The VAERS toll-free number is 1-800-822-7967 or you can report side effects online at vaers.hhs.gov/reportevent.html.

In addition, individuals can report side effects to Pfizer Inc. at pfizersafetyreporting.com or by calling 1-800-438-1985.