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When can I stop wearing a mask?
Hold your mask (s) for the foreseeable future. At the moment, there are several unknowns, which makes the use of masks and social distance important to protect the community in general.
First, scientists do not know how Covid-19 vaccines can protect against asymptomatic transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (as explained above). There are promising signs – but the research remains incomplete. Nor do researchers know how long Covid-19 vaccines can protect people from the virus.
Scientists will also be watching closely how evolutionary changes in the virus, or variants, affect the effectiveness of vaccines. The researchers have already found that the effectiveness of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been reduced in South Africa, where the B1351 variant is present.
However, the most important factor may be the extent to which eligible adults accept the vaccine. Children can spread the disease, but they are not eligible for the vaccine; some people may be too immunologically compromised to take it; and others may face bureaucratic barriers to vaccination.
What is the use of getting the vaccine if I still have to wear a mask?
Think of masking and social detachment as a continuum of risk mitigation strategies that are in place as scientists conduct research, more and more people are vaccinated and the prevalence of Covid-19 decreases.
For example, as vaccines continue to be distributed, small groups of people vaccinated will become more common. These same people, therefore, need to be careful with social detachment and wearing masks in public, as they can transmit the disease in a wider community.
The hope is that, as more and more people are vaccinated, fewer people will have severe cases of Covid-19 and that pressure on the health system will decrease with the prevalence of the disease.
“We hope to be able to vaccinate the majority of the population,” said Dr. Bruce Y Lee, professor of health policy at the School of Public Health at City University of New York. “That’s when we can start talking about how to get back to normal.”
When will we have these answers?
Studies on the extent to which vaccines protect against transmission are ongoing and promising, but incomplete. Vaccines are unlikely to provide complete or “sterilizing” protection. Only a handful of vaccines are able to make that claim, including, for example, the smallpox vaccine. However, if a vaccine significantly reduced transmission, it would be good news for the world’s ability to contain the virus.
Under normal circumstances, these types of questions may have been answered in clinical vaccine trials that lasted for years. In this emergency situation, stopping the disease was a more important goal, and the vaccines available do this very effectively.
“We would probably know as more and more people get vaccinated, somewhere around mid-September,” said August.
However, it is important to note that vaccines do not necessarily need to provide complete protection to help fight the pandemic. “If everyone gets vaccinated, there will be less viruses around,” said August.
