Coronavirus: What happens if you get the vaccine when you are COVID+?

Getting the COVID-19 vaccine is an important step in safeguarding yourself. However, this is also the time when COVID-19 cases are continuing to spread, and there's still an equal and scary risk of catching the infection. It could thus, possibly happen that a person could be probably symptomatic, or test positive, at the time of vaccination and remain unaware. Statistically too, with the pace of rollouts, it could be possible that many people would have been asymptomatic or presymptomatic at the time of their vaccine date.

In such a scenario, what would happen if you get the vaccine when you are COVID+?

Would you still be eligible to get vaccinated? If yes, could it reduce the efficacy of the vaccine?

While we have happened to come out of the peak of the second wave, our fight against COVID-19 isn't over yet. Not only is the virus still out there, the Delta variant and the Delta plus are still causing a surge in cases, especially in places where there's a high-risk threshold and now also posing a heightened threat globally. Therefore, not only is it important to continue following COVID-appropriate behaviour, it can be quite concerning to suspect symptoms, or test positive at the time you are about to be vaccinated since the newer variants of the virus are scarier for those who are unvaccinated and have poor immunity.

Current guidelines put in place by leading health bodies suggest that people who are currently COVID + (have tested positive and quarantining) or suspect COVID symptoms should not step out to get vaccinated and instead complete the quarantine period first. However, with a virus that's as different as the SARS-COV-2, and the manner in which it is fast spreading, it can seldom happen that a person remains asymptomatic, develops signs and symptoms at a later stage and hence, may not be aware of being positive. Even so, since a positive COVID patient will be more likely to spread the infection onto others at a public vaccination space, it is asked that anybody who has been exposed to someone COVID+ or even suspects the slightest of symptoms stay at home focus on recovering and schedule the jab for later.

For the same reason, anyone showing signs of a non-COVID infection, or a respiratory infection are also requested to postpone inoculation.

As mentioned above, it can happen that many who turn up for the vaccination appointment only realize their possible positive status only if they are subjected to a clinical test.

While it is definitely concerning to think about getting vaccinated when somebody is already COVID+, scientifically, there's no conclusive evidence as to how the vaccine may react when there's already an active virus in the body. This may, however, depend on whether somebody is showing symptoms and how severe the symptoms in themselves are.

According to some studies, getting the COVID vaccine when someone's already ill with the virus may not actually cause any harmful effects and interfere with the working of the vaccines. While this is still subject to more studies, experts do believe that the vaccines work independently to the virus which has already caused inflammation in the body. However, since the virus is known to cause rampant infection spread, the presence of a possible positive person, with or without symptoms could pose a threat to other people, including healthcare workers on the job. Therefore, while asymptomatic cases may not be able to surface, anybody with relative symptoms or a possible contact history with someone who did test positive should, as a measure, stay at home, and reschedule the shot so as to not put other's health at risk.

While the vaccine may not be affected by an active infection in the body, some experts also say that a suspected COVID-19 case is likely to bring down the efficacy of the virus. Simply said, the vaccine may not be as capable of stimulating a healthy immune response which would have otherwise been expected.

The working of the vaccine is dependent on the efficacy and antibodies it mounts. When a person is possibly sick, it signals active inflammation in the body, meaning that the immune system is already busy fighting the same and may not be able to mount an equal, healthy and effective response when the vaccine dose is injected into the body. The efficacy of the vaccine and the immune response may also be dampened down with the severity of the infection and infectious symptoms one has at the moment.

Since the infection already pushes your immune system into action (whether symptomatic or asymptomatic), it can directly impact the immune response which is generated by the vaccine. If there's already some level of inflammation present in the body, or symptoms you may be already showcasing, the side-effects generated by the vaccine can intensify the severity of the same, or even take longer to resolve.

With all the reasoning that does suggest that vaccination may not raise a strong immune response or increase the severity of side-effects, preliminary research does indicate that there could be a silver lining to all this- a possible faster recovery, and a likely reduction in the severity of the infection.

While it's important to remember that this is still subject to more research, a vaccine administration may be able to push the immune system to prompt antibodies into action (even if it's relatively slow) and reduce the recovery time and severity of your symptoms, when you are positive. This is also seen amongst the people who have been vaccinated and contract a breakthrough infection.