Health office advocates vaccine three months after Covid recovery

A student gets a Covid jab at the University of Lausanne on September 16, 2021. A Covid pass will be required from next Monday for students to attend university lectures. Keystone / Laurent Gillieron

People who catch Covid-19 should get vaccinated three months after recovering and not six months, says the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH).

This new recommendation has been made due to the spread of the more contagious Delta variant, explained Virginie Masserey, head of FOPH’s infectious diseases section, on Friday.

“The immunity you get from a [Delta variant] infection now offers less protection than with other variants,” Masserey told Swiss public radio RTS.

Current scientific knowledge about the protection and immunity against variants shows that people who have recovered from Covid should benefit from this “extended immunity from three months after an infection”, the health official said.

According to official FOPH statistics, 820,980 people out of a population of 8.6 million have been infected with Covid in Switzerland since the start of the pandemic in February 2020. Over 10,500 people have died in connection with Covid-19 in Switzerland.

In addition, over 1,000 people with “long Covid” symptoms have been registered with the state invalidity insurance scheme, RTS reported on Friday.

Just over 53% of Swiss residents have been double-jabbed against the virus, which is lower than in many other European countries. To boost the numbers a vaccination campaign targeting young people was launched this week on social media channels.

Other measures

Earlier this week Swiss government experts also issued a recommendation that pregnant women get the Covid jab from the second trimester onwards. This is in line with advice issued in other countries.

Meanwhile, the wider use of a Covid certificate to enter indoor public spaces, such as restaurants and museums, effective from September 13, continues to make waves. The government ordered the measure to relieve pressure on hospitals that are struggling to cope with a fourth wave of infections. It is also viewed as an indirect way of boosting the vaccination rate.

There have been several public protests against the Covid certificate measure since it was announced. An unauthorised demonstration outside the Federal Parliament building in Bern on Thursday was broken up by the police using a water cannon, rubber bullets and pepper spray.