Recommendations for divers after their COVID-19 vaccination
The Belgian Society for Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine (SBMHS-BVOOG) provided some recommendations which are currently being evaluated by EUBS, ECHM and DAN Europe.
Here the summary of the recommendations, for the full version, please have a look at the sources below.
- Get vaccinated as soon as vaccines are available to help contain and hopefully end the pandemic.
- After each dose of the vaccine, wait a minimum of 7 days before you dive with compressed gas or by breath-holding (Freediving).
- Extend this interval to 14 days
- if you have side effect lasting more than 48 hours,
- if you have personal health risk factors such as, but not limited to:
- excessive body weight
- chronic metabolic disease (incl. diabetes)
- smoking
- use medication which may increase the risk of thromboembolic incidents (incl. oral contraceptives)
- if you want to dive requiring special technical skills or exceed the limits of recreational diving (technical diving, deep decompression diving)
- Visit a general practitioner in case of any side effects of the vaccination persisting more than 48 hours.
- If you experience any symptoms, possibly related to diving disease, that appeared after low-risk dives in the 7-day period after your COVID-19 vaccination, it is advised that you consult with a diving medicine specialist. It might be useful to notify the event to a central diving safety organization such as DAN Europe Medical Division (see this article for a mail address). Get in contact with local scientific societies for diving medicine who may help you in that regard.
- Vaccinated or not, it is possible that you transmit the SARS-CoV-2 virus to other people, hence continue to apply the protective measures such as
- keep the distance,
- wear a mask,
- hygiene for you and your equipment
Sources/references
- Position of the SBMHS-BVOOG on diving after COVID-19 vaccination, PDF (EN, FR, NL)
- DAN Europe: Diving After Your COVID-19 Vaccination: Guidelines
About the author
Jan Beilicke is a long-time IT professional and full-time nerd. Open source enthusiast, advocating security and privacy. Sees the cloud as other people's computers. Find him on Mastodon.