For patients with a history of COVID-19 infection, vaccination protocols recommend deferring immunisation if they are acutely unwell until they have fully recovered NICE CKS. This helps avoid wrongly attributing symptoms of acute illness to vaccine adverse effects NICE CKS. If a patient has suspected COVID-19 infection, they should not attend for vaccination to prevent infecting others NICE CKS.
Ideally, for adults and children at highest risk of serious illness, vaccination should be deferred until clinical recovery and at least 4 weeks after the onset of symptoms or 4 weeks from the first positive PCR result, based on clinical judgement NICE CKS. It is important to note that prolonged symptoms of COVID-19 are not a contraindication to the COVID-19 vaccine NICE CKS. However, if there is evidence of current deterioration, vaccination may be deferred to avoid incorrectly attributing any change in the patient’s underlying condition to the vaccine NICE CKS.