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About a year into the global pandemic, as the worldwide death toll exceeds a dizzying 2.3 million—nearly half a million in the United States alone—hope has arrived in the form of multiple vaccines created in record time that have shown impressive success in preventing COVID-19.
“What all the vaccines have been is very highly protective against severe disease, hospitalization, and death,” says William Moss, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. That, he says, is the most important success story of COVID-19 vaccines and will help bring this brutal pandemic under control.
With the number of vaccinated individuals growing daily, many wonder: What previously risky activities, such as meeting up indoors with friends or going out shopping without a mask on, are now safer with a vaccine? This is what the experts say about how to calculate the risks of some common activities after you’ve been vaccinated.
The eased rules announced Wednesday start 14 days after the final vaccination dose and last for three months after that dose for people who show no symptoms. The latter timeframe could be extended as more is learned about the long-term impact of the vaccines. CDC notes that, although the risk of transmission from vaccinated people is still uncertain, vaccination has been demonstrated to prevent symptomatic COVID-19.
I am fully vaccinated! Yay! Oh- wait. The immunity takes about two weeks to become effective. Okay. So no changes in behavior for two weeks.
Should I visit someone? Can I visit grandma at the home? Nope - probably still not a good idea.
Maybe I'll plan a vacation for the summer. Yes that's it! No - that's more than three months away - my protection may not work then. I guess I'll go to the supermarket and get a cake to celebrate my new freedom.
People keep expecting/hoping one specific action taken is going to end the pandemic.
Something with as much global scope and momentum as Covid-19 is going to require coordinated action on multiple fronts...including, but not limited to, vaccination. Avoiding transmission via social behavior (masks, distancing), changes in personal behavior (handwashing, disinfection), changing how public health agencies operate, as well as more effective treatment for those who do end up actively sick. If for nothing else, to keep medical responses from being overwhelmed with every subsequent wave. There are other serious health problems in the population that have been sidelined by the pandemic but they still need attention. Guess I prefer to look at vaccination as one more tool in the box, not the ultimate answer. I don't expect to be able to throw caution to the wind...at least not yet. Sure, I'm getting vaccinated and that will probably less my chances of ending up with severe disease. A bit less fear on a personal level at least. That's not a bad thing. Fear does bad things to people and to their behavior. At least that may also mean I won't need to take resources away from someone who may be more vulnerable than I am. They have loved ones too.
In a way, it may be better that the pandemic continue because that will keep the research community's focus on developing vaccines that actually do convey longer term immunity or stop the viral process itself. If Covid-19 dwindles to something that's less than a global scourge, more likely the medical community, big pharma, and governmental fund sources turn their focus onto something else.
There have already been silver linings to the cloud that is Covid-19. As part of the global response we've identified other potential viruses lurking on the sidelines, there's been more research into viral biology in general, advances in treatment and immune system biology, identifying and cleaning up transmission vectors (and ruling out the ones that don't play a part ie. vilifying animals that don't actually play a role), developing stronger response plans (social, financial, political, governmental) for future wide scale emergencies. Questioning the way we do global business in general and how vulnerable "the way we've always done it" can be.
Last edited by Parnassia; 02-11-2021 at 05:57 PM..
The only reason "it might only last 3 months" is because we don't have enough data showing it lasts longer yet. Unproven doesn't mean yes or no. We only have data showing it definitely lasts at least 3 months.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flamingo13
Yay if you've gotten the vacinne - you still need to wear a mask, take precautions, etc. - just hope that if you get it you won't have it so severely.
Fully vaccinated people very rarely get severe covid. Less than 1 in 100k in the data so far, and that is in people over 60.
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