Does this mean that you are free to live as before the pandemic once immunity kicks in?
Sorry, there is still no immunity passport, experts told CNN. There are still safety precautions you need to follow to keep you, your loved ones and everyone else safe and protected from the deadly coronavirus.
Read expert responses to key questions, such as when you can stop wearing a mask, eat at a restaurant, travel, go to sporting events and concerts, and visit friends and family for free.
Let’s face it: the answer is no.
Try to think of a face mask as your new best friend, one that you plan to cherish and appreciate for a long, long time. Here are five reasons.
1) It is not 100% protection. Even the best vaccines available today offer protection of up to 95% only when you are fully immunized. This means that there is a 5% chance that you will catch the new coronavirus at any time.
2) Each person is different. Some people will develop more robust immune responses to both rounds of Covid-19 vaccination than others. This is one of the main reasons why experts insist that everyone receive the second injection of the vaccine within a key time frame.
“So the main reason for the second dose is to get everyone to react. If you only get a single dose, you don’t really know where you are, ”said Hotez.
Remember that it may take two to three weeks after you receive your second injection for your immunity to be fully activated.
3) A moving target. As is typical of viruses, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is mutating around the world – creating variants that are proving to be more contagious than those the United States is currently fighting.
Experts are already warning that antibodies from a previous case of Covid-19 will not protect against reinfection with a South African variant.
“If you become dominant, the experience of our colleagues in South Africa indicates that even if you have been infected with the original virus, there is a very high rate of reinfection,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Diseases infectious, said CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Monday. “The previous infection does not seem to protect you from reinfection.”
There is also a possibility that current vaccines may not fully protect against new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This is being studied feverishly now, so stay tuned.
This scenario may apply to Covid-19.
“We still don’t know if being vaccinated means that you are no longer a coronavirus carrier. That is, fully immunized people can still spread Covid-19 to others,” said CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor visitor at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.
5) Will immunity last? Researchers still don’t know exactly how long the immunity given by current vaccines – as it is – will last. There is a possibility that booster doses may be needed in the coming months or years. This is not uncommon – adults need boosters against tetanus and diphtheria every 10 years.
So, until you know more about how long protection lasts – and against which variants – stay safe and protect others by wearing a mask.
When can I go out with friends and family?
That depends on everyone’s vaccine status, experts say. If friends or other members of your family have also received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, the risk is very low, especially if the visit is outdoors.
“It is probably very safe to see other people who have also been vaccinated after everyone has received both doses and has waited a few weeks,” said Wen.
It would also be safe if unvaccinated friends or family or friends were quarantined for 10 days before the outdoor meeting.
However, if the visit is at home, “there will be some level of risk,” said Wen, especially with the current spread of more contagious variants and the effectiveness of less than 100% of current vaccines.
“This risk will be much less than if you were not vaccinated, but the risk will still be there for you, and you can still be a risk to the unvaccinated members of your family, as you can be an asymptomatic carrier that you transmit to them” said Wen.
“If you really want to spend time with your grandchildren at home, the safest way to do that is still for everyone to be quarantined for at least 10 days and decrease the risk during those 10 days,” said Wen. “Quarantining for seven days and a negative test is also an option, but everyone should also quarantine – a negative test alone is not enough.”
And again, just because you’ve been vaccinated, it doesn’t reduce your responsibility. You should continue to wear a mask and practice social detachment whenever you are around other people.
“You wouldn’t want to be involved in activities where you could acquire the new coronavirus and then pass it on to others,” said Wen.
“This includes seeing other people who have been vaccinated but don’t wear a mask – based on what we know now, they can have the virus and pass it on to you, and you can pass it on to the people you live with. It’s a good idea. “
When can I eat in a covered restaurant or go to a show or sporting event?
Indoor restaurants are likely to be hot spots for the Covid-19 broadcast. This is partly because no one wears a mask while eating, thereby spreading their respiratory droplets while socializing.
So even with a second vaccine, you are still at risk of being exposed to Covid-19 and becoming a silent spreader.
But won’t the typical 1.8m distance between tables or stand dividers solve the problem?
“I think the 6 feet indoors are not enough on their own, “said Linsey Marr, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, who studies the Covid-19 transmission.
“You need to have good ventilation in that bar or restaurant,” said Marr, co-author of an article on Covid-19 airborne transmission through very small droplets called aerosols.
However, even a HEPA filter would not make the environmental engineer Marr feel comfortable eating inside a restaurant. For the filter to protect you, the virus-laden air would have to pass through the air treatment system and be filtered before it reaches you, she said.
“HEPA filters reduce the amount of virus in the background air, but most of the transmission occurs in these close contact scenarios, where you are close to someone infected and spreading a lot of viruses. The HEPA filter does not help with that,” he said. she.
“And since I can’t wear a mask while I’m eating, I’m just avoiding closed restaurants until this is over,” said Marr.
How about fun things to do, like concerts and sporting events?
“Once vaccinated, an outdoor sporting event or concert is probably safe, if there is a good social distance between families and everyone is wearing masks,” said Wen. “Crowded and indoor meetings are probably even better to avoid, even if you are vaccinated.”
Can I travel if I have been vaccinated?
And that applies to people who have already been vaccinated, added Fauci, the White House’s chief medical advisor.
“Being vaccinated does not mean that I now have a free pass to travel,” said Fauci at CNN’s global city hall. “Nor does it say that I have a free pass to set aside all public health measures that we talk about all the time.”
“I mean, if you absolutely have to travel and it is essential, then it would obviously be necessary to do that. But we don’t want people to think that because they were vaccinated, then other public health recommendations just don’t apply.” Fauci said.