Coronavirus vaccines are the light at the end of a very dark tunnel – a pandemic that has resulted in 2 million deaths worldwide and more than 420,000 in the United States alone.
The good and the bad news: although the light may be closer as more people are vaccinated, the end of the tunnel is still far away – even for those people who received the vaccine.
In the U.S., more than 3 million Americans received two doses of both vaccines on Monday afternoon, according to data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
They are primarily adults who live or work in long-term care facilities and frontline health care workers who have been given priority access to the vaccine in all states.
Both vaccines take at least two weeks from receipt of the second dose to develop an immune response. Pfizer / BioNTech PFE,
BNTX,
vaccine offers 95% effectiveness while Moderna MRNA,
The vaccine offers 94% effectiveness, according to tests in the final stage.
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An individual who has been vaccinated still has the ability to contract coronavirus, although he is more likely to be asymptomatic.
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These efficacy rates for both vaccines mean that “94% are not seriously ill,” said Dr. William Schaffner, CDC advisor and specialist in infectious diseases. “This is very successful.”
With the flu shots, he said, “We are nowhere near that successful. Year after year, it is about 45% [effective]. “
Does this mean that these 3 million vaccinated Americans can safely return to their pre-COVID lives two weeks after receiving their second dose?
Not exactly.
An individual who has been vaccinated still has the ability to contract coronavirus, although it is more likely to be asymptomatic, according to preliminary data. Dr. Thomas Russo, chief of infectious diseases at the University of Buffalo in New York, said it is still unclear whether vaccinated people will be able to pass it on to others.
That is why Russo, who received his second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on January 5, said he is only comfortable interacting with people who are also at least two weeks fully vaccinated in unmasked environments.
“I would go to dinner with my vaccinated friends because the likelihood of us being infectious is low,” he said.
Is the difference in the effectiveness rate between Pfizer and Moderna vaccines important?
The 0.5% difference in efficacy rates “is meaningless,” said Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious disease specialist and director of the Vaccine Research Group at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
But a potential game changer could be Johnson & Johnson JNJ,
vaccine that is expected to receive approval for use with emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration in the coming weeks.
The company is due to release Phase 3 trial data this week, which will reveal the effectiveness rate of its single dose vaccine.
Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have low risks in terms of dangerous side effects. There have been 10 cases of anaphylaxis among the approximately 4 million doses administered between December 21 and January 10, the CDC reported.
I must continue to wear a mask, even after I have been fully vaccinated?
Even if you have been fully vaccinated, it is important to continue to wear a face mask and practice social detachment in public environments such as supermarkets, restaurants and transportation, where you are likely to find more people who have not been vaccinated and can potentially get infected by you.
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Even if you have been fully vaccinated, it is important to continue to wear a face mask and practice social detachment in public settings
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Not wearing a mask near older relatives and in public places, even if you have been fully vaccinated, “creates uncertainty and stress for other people because they do not know whether you have been vaccinated,” Russo told MarketWatch.
If I was vaccinated, can I eat in restaurants now?
Since customers generally do not wear masks inside restaurants, there is a greater chance that you or someone else will come into contact with respiratory droplets that can transmit the coronavirus.
Outdoor dining is considerably safer than outdoor dining, health experts say, because droplets containing viruses have more space to disperse. It may also be easier to space tables more than two meters apart on the outside.
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“None of us should be there,” said Russo, referring to closed restaurants
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Russo said he would continue to avoid indoor meals because he could spread the virus to someone who has not been vaccinated or is only partially vaccinated.
“None of us should be there,” said Russo, referring to closed restaurants.
That said, if future studies showed that fully vaccinated people cannot transmit the virus, Russo would reconsider indoor meals.
Can I get on a plane?
Domestic round-trip flights were on average 25% cheaper last year than in 2019, according to data from the travel website Hopper. But prices are expected to rise later this year as more people get vaccinated, according to some travel experts.
If you’ve been fully vaccinated, you don’t necessarily have to miss out on travel thefts. In fact, Russo did not cancel a cruise trip that he and his wife booked two years ago that was scheduled to take place at the end of August this year.
He would feel comfortable traveling if his wife was also fully vaccinated and everyone else on board was vaccinated and tested before boarding.
Poland, however, advises against travel because it can accelerate the spread of the coronavirus. “It’s like fuel in a fire,” he told MarketWatch.
Can I visit my grandparents now that I’m vaccinated?
The coronavirus has had a disproportionate impact on the elderly, especially those who live in long-term care facilities. Their documented vulnerability and susceptibility to contracting and potentially dying from coronavirus is why they are receiving priority access to the vaccine in the United States and other parts of the world.
That is why many nursing homes during the height of the pandemic have banned visitors and people have stopped interacting with the elderly personally. As a result, the elderly during the pandemic experienced unprecedented rates of social isolation, which increased the risk of developing dementia.
If you and a friend or elderly relative have been fully vaccinated “the benefits of the visit outweigh these small risks they may have of developing a serious case of coronavirus,” Russo told MarketWatch.
Similarly, Ashley Ritter, a geriatric nurse and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, said she will be more comfortable visiting her father, who is immunocompromised and recently had a kidney transplant as soon as she is fully vaccinated.
She is due to receive her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday. But Ritter, who also serves as clinical director and vice president of the Dear Pandemic scientific communication project, will not visit him until he is also fully vaccinated for two weeks.
“I haven’t seen him in so many months, so there will be a lot more comfort in being with him,” she said. She and her father still plan to wear masks close to each other to make sure they don’t inadvertently infect each other asymptomatically.
Ultimately, the return to normal depends on vaccination of as many people as possible, said Ritter. Health professionals say a vaccination rate of 70% to 80% would be close to bringing herd immunity, where those who have the vaccine help prevent those who have not been vaccinated from contracting the virus.