Finding out what’s causing that tickle in your throat during respiratory virus season just got easier. In October 2024, the Food and Drug Administration approved nine at-home combination tests that can detect the coronavirus and influenza from a single sample.
About the New Tests
Made by health care equipment company Healgen®, the combination tests check for COVID as well as two common flu viruses, influenza A and influenza B, and are available over the counter.
Like at-home COVID tests, the combination tests are simple to use—swab the inside of your nostril, immerse it in a solution and apply a few droplets of the mixture onto a test strip—and fast, delivering results in 15 minutes.
They’re also just as effective as COVID tests, which detect the virus about 80% of the time.
However, the combination tests do have drawbacks—they’re slightly more expensive than a COVID-only test and may not be covered by insurance.
Preventing Illnesses with Vaccines
The best way to ensure you don’t get COVID or the flu is to get vaccinated. Here are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine recommendations:
COVID Vaccine
The 2024–2025 COVID vaccine is recommended for everyone ages six months and older, including those who have had a COVID vaccine previously and those who have had COVID.1
Certain people may need more than one dose of the vaccine.1,2
- Some children six months to four years old and all individuals 65 and older should receive two doses.
- Those who are moderately to severely immunocompromised should receive at least two doses and may receive three or more, depending on their health care provider’s recommendation.
Flu Vaccine
All individuals ages six months or older should get a flu vaccine.3
If you’re experiencing troublesome respiratory symptoms that aren’t COVID- or flu-related, consider booking a consultation with one of our ENT physicians to get to the root cause of your issues.
1 CDC. (2024). Staying up to date with Covid-19 vaccines. https://www.cdc.gov/covid/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html
2 CDC. (2024). CDC Recommends Second Dose of 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine for people 65 years and older and for people who are moderately or severely immunocompromised. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/s1023-covid-19-vaccine.html
3 CDC. (2024). Seasonal flu vaccine. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines/