The Union Health Ministry, on Wednesday, announced that the new recommendations for taking COVID-19 vaccination after recovering from the illness. The recommendations, made by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC), have been accepted and communicated to the States/UTs.

The recommendation states that, if a person gets infected after 1st dose, the second dose should be deferred for at least 4-8 weeks. The ministry said that a vaccine can be taken 3 months after getting infected with the virus.

Last week, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) had stated that those having laboratory tests proven SARS-CoV-2 illness should defer COVID-19 vaccination for six months after recovery.

According to the current protocol, the vaccine must be taken four to eight weeks after recovery from COVID-19 infection.

“If infected with COVID after 1st dose, 2nd dose to be deferred by 3 months after clinical recovery from COVID19 illness,” the statement read.

The Union Health Ministry also recommended vaccination for all lactating women.

The statement also mentioned that there will be no screening of vaccine recipients by Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) prior to the vaccination.

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The statement also mentioned that there will be no screening of vaccine recipients by Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) prior to the vaccination.

“An individual can donate blood after 14 days of either receiving vaccine or testing RT-PCR negative if suffering from COVID,” the ministry added in its new recommendations.

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This 4-8 week deferred period of 2nd dose is applicable for:

-Persons having active symptoms of COVID-19 infection

-COVID-19 patients who have been given anti-COVID-19 monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma

-Acutely ill patients due to any other illness.

India, on Tuesday, recorded 267,334 new cases of COVID-19; the total caseload now stands at 25,496,330. On Tuesday, 4,529 people died from the infection, taking the death toll to 283,248.

There are currently 3,226,719 active cases of COVID-19 in India. A total of 389,851 people recovered from the infection on Tuesday. The tally of recovered COVID-19 cases in India now stands at 21,986,363.