The coronavirus vaccine should be extended to people who have already received COVID-19, France’s top health official announced on Friday.
Since December, the advice is for this group to wait three months after recovery before receiving the first dose. But in today’s statement by the Haute Autorité de Santé, that interval has been extended to up to six months. HAS also recommended that they need only one dose, instead of two.
The latest immunological research suggests that people have natural protection after COVID-19 for almost up to six months, explained HAS.
There are two exceptions, however. Those who are immunosuppressed should be vaccinated on a two-dose schedule within three months of the onset of infection. And people who received the first dose, but developed an infection in the days after the injection, should not receive the second dose within the normal timeframe, but within three to six months after the infection.