The coronavirus vaccine should be extended to people who already had COVID-19, the top French health authority announced on Friday.
Since December, it is recommended that this group wait three months after recovery before receiving a first dose. But in today’s statement from the High Health Authority, that interval was extended to six months. The HAS also recommends that they need only one dose, instead of two.
Recent immunological research suggests that people have natural protection after COVID-19 for nearly six months, HAS said.
There are two exceptions, however. Those who are immunosuppressed should be vaccinated according to the two-dose schedule, within three months of the onset of infection. And people who have received a first dose, but then develop an infection in the days after the jab, should not receive the second dose within the usual timeframe, but within three to six months after the infection.