Experts set out jab guidelines after Covid infection

A group of government advisors on Covid-19 vaccination on Sunday laid down their recommendations on the number of doses of vaccine people should take after they are infected with the coronavirus.

For healthy adults who were unvaccinated before their infection, the experts recommended they should still take two doses of either the Sinovac or BioNTech vaccines, adding that they should take the first dose three months after their recovery.

But elderly residents at care homes who had not taken any coronavirus vaccine before they were infected should not wait that long, and the experts said they should get vaccinated one month after they recover.

If these people had taken one shot before they got Covid-19, they would only need to take one dose three months after they recover.

It’s recommended that people need not take any extra jabs if they had already received two doses of Covid vaccine before their infection.

Different guidelines have been laid down for children, teenagers and people with compromised immunity.

For people aged between five and 17 who were unjabbed before they got Covid, the experts said they should receive one dose of BioNTech or two doses of Sinovac after their recovery, while those aged between three and four are still recommended to take two Sinovac jabs.

If children and teenagers had taken one Sinovac jab before their infection, the experts advised them to take another Sinovac jab after they recover.

However, they would not need the extra jabs if they had had already received a BioNTech jab before their infection.

For people with compromised immunity and infected with Covid, they are generally advised to take an extra shot than their healthy counterparts.

The guidelines were laid down by two committees under the Centre for Health Protection and a group of advisors to the Chief Executive on the city’s coronavirus strategy.