COVID Recovery: When to Get Vaccinated

Getting a positive COVID test result is like opening Pandora's box—full of questions that no one intended to ask, yet here we are. Can you go back to work? Should you wear a mask? And, most importantly, when will your taste buds return to their former glory? If you're getting ready for the fall vaccine season, you might also wonder if this positive test turns your vaccine timeline into a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

After the Food and Drug Administration graciously approved the new COVID vaccine at the end of August, it’s now as available as coffee shops on every corner, right alongside the flu and RSV vaccines. But let’s face it—having COVID can leave your immune system feeling like it just participated in a particularly messy game of Twister. It’s only natural to feel a little bewildered about when to roll up your sleeve for the next jab against the looming illnesses of autumn.

As we sit here and watch the U.S. COVID case numbers do the cha-cha (up, down, and all around), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that over 15% of COVID tests are still coming back positive. Emergency room visits are even climbing, while sadly, the numbers linked to deaths are higher too—thank you, new variants, for keeping the spotlight firmly on the virus, like an uninvited guest at a dinner party.

As Mark Cameron, a brilliant mind in the realm of population health, put it, we’re engaged in a perpetual game of cat and mouse with COVID-19. Wouldn’t it have been lovely if that booster had rolled out earlier, especially considering late summer's rising infection rates? Well, the CDC graciously recommends avoiding vaccinations while you’re in the throes of COVID to keep others unexposed—like a protective bubble, but less fun and a lot more necessary.

Now, as far as when you should get your COVID vaccine post-infection, the CDC delicately suggests that you might want to wait up to three months. Why? Well, according to Shobha Swaminathan, an adept mind at Rutgers, you might still have some residual protection from your recent bout with the virus—like leftovers from a dinner party that you just can’t get enough of.

What’s even more fascinating (or confusing, depending on your mood) is that the boost in immunity after an infection can last about three months. After that, it might start to wane like my enthusiasm for summer plans once fall’s sweater weather rolls in. Susan Kline chimed in, noting that while it’s generally not harmful to get vaccinated shortly after testing positive, you should ensure you feel like a million bucks before heading for that needle. Aim for about two weeks once the illness begins; then you should be good to go.

If you found yourself feeling a bit under the weather this summer but aren’t quite sure if it was COVID or just the universe telling you to slow down, it might be prudent to grab that COVID vaccine sooner rather than later.

Now, let’s not forget about the flu and RSV vaccines—Kline assures us that those shots should go smoothly, provided you’re feeling better and it’s been a couple of weeks since your COVID encounter. However, the flu shot and RSV vaccine have their own targets; just because you’ve