After COVID infection, you can either get your COVID vaccine once you recover from your illness, or you can wait up to 3 months. The right timing for you depends on your risk level for severe disease, any close contact with someone at high-risk, and the types of circulating variants., With respiratory season looming and COVID-19 cases climbing, you might be wondering whether you should get the newly updated COVID-19 vaccine that’s recently become available. "The COVID strains circulating right now are a little different than the ones covered in the last bivalent boosters," explains Dr. Long., If You Recently Had COVID, When Should You Get Your COVID Vaccine? The CDC recommends not getting any vaccinations when you have COVID to avoid exposing others., A lot has happened with COVID-19 vaccines in the past few years, making it difficult to keep up. But we're here for you! We've spent the last few months hearing all about (or experiencing for , Andrew Badley, M.D., COVID-19 Research Task Force Chair, Mayo Clinic: If you've already had COVID-19, should you still get vaccinated? The answer is yes. Several reasons for that. One is that the duration of immunity that you receive after having COVID-19 disease is variable. Our current estimates are that that goes away over about three months., Is there any extra risk if I get the vaccine after having had COVID-19? There are a lot of anecdotal reports that many people who have had COVID-19 experience stronger side effects after their first vaccine dose, while most people who have never had COVID-19 have a stronger response after the second dose. But each person’s experience is unique..