PARIS: France on Friday recommended that people who have already recovered from Covid-19 receive a single vaccine dose, becoming the first country to issue such advice.
All three Covid-19 vaccines approved for use in the European Union are administered in the form of two doses, delivered several weeks apart.
This is because clinical trials showed that immunity against the disease was significantly higher after individuals received two shots.
France’s public health authority said on Friday however that people who had already been infected with Covid-19 develop an immune response similar to that bestowed by a vaccine dose, and that a single dose after infection would likely suffice.
"A single vaccine dose will also play the role of reminding" their immune system how to fight Covid-19, it said. The authority recommended a gap of between three and six months after infection before individuals who had recovered from Covid-19 receive a jab.
"At the moment no country has clearly positioned itself in terms of a sole vaccination dose for people who have already contracted Covid-19," it said. France has accelerated its vaccination programme in recent weeks but it is still in its infancy.
As of Thursday, over 2.1 million people had received at least one vaccine dose, with almost 535,800 having already received two. At least 3.4 million people have had confirmed Covid-19 infections in France, although there are likely to have been far more given the relative lack of accessible testing during the pandemic’s first wave.
Two recent US studies suggest that a single vaccine dose may work in individuals who have already recovered from Covid-19. One paper said that immunity in individuals who had had Covid-19 and then received a single vaccine dose "is equal to or even exceeds" that of people who have not had Covid-19 but received two vaccine doses.
A vaccine still in development by Johnson & Johnson works with a single dose, but it is yet to receive emergency use authorisation from EU and US regulators.
Meanwhile, Britain closed in on Friday on a mid-February target to offer coronavirus vaccinations to 15 million of its most vulnerable people, raising hopes that a grinding lockdown could be eased.
More than 13.5 million people have been given a jab since the world-first immunisation programme began in early December, with a daily average of 431,232 receiving a vaccine last week.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to offer jabs to all top four priority groups -- which includes over-70s, care home residents and some key workers -- by the end of this week. The devolved government in Wales, which controls its own health policy, said it will reach its target of vaccinating the top four categories on Friday.
Figures showed nearly 22 percent of people in Wales have been vaccinated, compared to 20.3 percent in England, 19.2 percent in Scotland and 18.7 percent in Northern Ireland. The UK government in London, which is responsible for sourcing vaccines, is next aiming to have offered jabs to all over-50s by May and the entire adult population by September.
Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford said the successful vaccine rollout combined with falling infection rates could soon allow for some restrictions to be lifted "carefully and cautiously". "We can see a path into the spring where it will be possible for us to go back to doing some of the things that we’re all missing so much," he told the BBC.
Infection rates have dropped markedly across Britain over recent weeks, as strict lockdown measures have curbed previously spiralling case numbers, hospitalisations and deaths. The world should be prepared for the coronavirus to continue to circulate long-term despite the roll-out of vaccines, the head of the EU’s ECDC health agency, Andrea Ammon, told AFP on Friday.