State looking into Centre's advice to delay jabs to those who tested +ve

KOLKATA: The state government is looking into the recommendation of the Centre in terms of deferring the Covid vaccination of a person who tested positive by three months after he or she recovers from the disease. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote a letter to Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay on Wednesday containing a set of recommendations in terms of Covid vaccination.

A senior state government officer said they had received the letter and were looking into the recommendations given by the Centre before taking any decision in this connection. The Centre stated that "in case of individuals having lab tested Covid illness, Covid vaccination to be deferred by three months after recovery." It has also stated that in case of Covid patient, who has been given anti-SARS-2 monoclonial antibodies or convalescent plasma, Covid vaccinations to be deferred by three months from the discharge from the hospital.

Again, the second dose of a person if he or she got infected even after receiving the first dose should also be deferred by three months from the date of recovery from the disease.

Similarly, a person with any other serious general illness requiring hospitalisation or ICU care should also wait for four to eight weeks before getting the Covid vaccine. The recommendation also stated that an individual can donate blood after 14 days of either receiving Covid vaccine or testing RT-PCT negative. Covid vaccination has been recommended for lactating women and there is no requirement for screening of the vaccine recipients by RATA test prior to vaccination.