With the current, limited supply of COVID-19 vaccines, health experts are recommending that those who have already contracted the virus to postpone their inoculation.

As the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines earned approval from the federal Food and Drug Administration, North Carolina is expected to receive thousands of initial doses. Vaccination, however, will not be immediately available to all people, with Orange County saying it will first prioritize health care workers who face regular, high risk of exposure to the virus.

According to a new vaccine dashboard from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), from December 14 to December 22, 24,500 people in North Carolina have received the first of two COVID-19 doses. Second doses will be administered three to four weeks later.

Dr. David Weber is a professor of medicine, pediatrics and epidemiology at UNC’s School of Medicine and Gillings School of Global Public Health.

Weber said the NCDHHS advises that people who have had COVID-19 in the past still need to be vaccinated, as the vaccine works to protect individuals against future infection.

“The question is about people who have already had COVID and the COVID vaccine,” Weber said. “First of all, such people were included in the trials of the two mRNA vaccines – Pfizer and Moderna – and the vaccine was effective in protecting them.”

While everyone is advised to be vaccinated, Weber said people who are in the infectious period of COVID, during the 10 days since the onset of symptoms, should not receive the vaccine.

“That’s because we don’t want them coming in and exposing people while they’re infectious,” Weber said. “Once they’re no longer infectious, they can receive the vaccine. It’s safe and effective in people who’ve had COVID.”

Despite it being safe and effective for those who have already contracted the virus to be vaccinated, Weber said it’s a good idea for those individuals to wait three months before receiving the inoculation due to limited supplies. The state is expected to see supply increases anytime from January to June of 2021.

“During that 90 days after having had COVID, they are relatively protected against a second bout of COVID,” Weber said. “There have been just a handful of people who have been reinfected in less than 90 days. So, it’s reasonable to ask them to wait 90 days before they receive the vaccine. But again, they’re not excluded from the vaccine. It is recommended that they get it.”

Currently, the CDC says, although it is rare, people “appear to become susceptible to reinfection around 90 days after onset of infection.”

While infectious disease experts do not know exactly how long immunity lasts either from having had COVID or receiving both doses of the vaccine, Weber said additional vaccination will still provide increased protection.

“Those people that have had COVID and get the vaccine can have a boost in their antibodies, implying that that will give them better protection,” Weber said.

Since the Pfizer and Moderna trials just ended, the state health department said vaccines can protect people from the coronavirus for at least two months. The department expects to know more about how long the immunity from the vaccines lasts as people have been vaccinated for a longer period of time.

For more information on Orange County vaccine distribution plan, click here.

Lead photo via UNC Health. 

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