The coronavirus vaccine should be rolled out for people who have already had COVID-19, the French health authority announced Friday.
Since December, it has been recommended that this group wait three months after recovery before being offered a first dose. But today’s statement from the Haute Autorité de Santé extended that interval to six months. The HAS has also recommended that they only need one dose instead of two.
The latest immunological research suggests that after COVID-19, people have natural protection for nearly six months, HAS explains.
However, there are two exceptions. Those immunosuppressed should be vaccinated within three months of the onset of infection on the two-dose schedule. And people who have received the first dose but then develop an infection in the days after the shot should not receive the second dose within the usual time frame, but within three to six months of infection.