People who have previously caught coronavirus should be ‘completely confident’ about receiving the vaccine, a medical chief has said.
Chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) June Raine has urged everyone who is eligible to get the jag when it’s available to them.
She said the new vaccine, which arrived in Scotland on Saturday, is ‘as safe as any general vaccine’ ahead of the first doses being administered on Tuesday.
Pregnant women and some immunocompromised people are being advised not to take the only Pfizer jab because there is not yet full data about how it could affect them.
But Dr Raine, who leads the regulator which approved the jab, confirmed there are "no special precautions or advice" for people who've already had Covid-19, the Mirror reports.
That means, if people who were previously sick are offered the jab, they should take it just as anyone else.
That is despite the fact they might have some immunity already.
Evidence from government SAGE advisors, published on Friday, suggested a "high proportion" of people have some immunity after catching Covid-19 and it is "likely to persist for at least three months".
But it is uncertain how long this "natural" immunity lasts, and some people do not develop immunity at all.
It is also possible that previous sufferers could still transmit Covid when they're re-infected, even if they don't get sick.
The advice also comes despite the fact some people who were previously ill have crippling 'Long Covid' symptoms.
Asked if her general advice to take the vaccine still applied to people with 'Long Covid', Dr Raine said: "No special advice there either.
"I think people can be really sure this has been looked at in a large number of people, 43,000, and looked at incredibly carefully.
"Of course we want to follow up more in the long term - we have good data up to one month after the second dose, but we'll be following up safety for at least two years.
"So please be confident that as soon as we have more data, we will be sharing it."
