What are the recommended vaccination protocols for patients with a history of COVID-19 infection?

For patients with a history of COVID-19 infection, vaccination protocols recommend deferring immunisation if they are acutely unwell until they have fully recovered ¹. This helps avoid wrongly attributing symptoms of acute illness to vaccine adverse effects ¹. If a patient has suspected COVID-19 infection, they should not attend for vaccination to prevent infecting others ¹.

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 ¹. It is important to note that prolonged symptoms of COVID-19 are not a contraindication to the COVID-19 vaccine ¹. 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 ¹.