Experts recommend recipients of the vaccine to continue wearing masks in public. Here’s why.
Immediately upon the start of vaccination across the nation, U.S. health officials had urged the recipients to resume wearing masks in public, since the scientists were uncertain of the fact whether the vaccinated Americans still could carry the virus in spite of inoculation.
While Vaccines May Limit The Transference Of The Virus, Citizens Still Must Wear Masks In Public
Recent data from real-world studies suggest that the Covid-19 vaccines provide immunization against asymptomatic infection, showing they also largely limit the transference of the deadly virus.
However, health experts are still urging people to continue wearing masks in public, regardless of whatever their immunization status might be, since, more data is required in order to confirm whether recipients of the vaccine can transmit the virus. This uncertainty is accompanied by new strains of the virus that are circulating in much of the nation. Thus, wearing masks in public still remains crucial.
Americans who are already exhausted with the pandemic and are desperate to return to normalcy, are especially confused with these seemingly complex messages. Although hopeful news continues to come up, health experts firmly advise citizens to keep on being cautious and mindful of the virus, for a little longer.
Since, vaccinations largely limit the transference of the virus, the CDC will issue new masking directives for the recipients of the vaccine, as said by Dr. Peter Hotez, who serves as the founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine. But, he also mentioned that it is not likely to happen until the summer at the earliest. However, all this relies on getting the UK variant, namely B.1.1.7, under control and also increasing the access of vaccination.
Prior research from Israel showed that recipients of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine did not exhibit any Covid-19 symptoms and they did not reportedly transmit the virus as well, read a Pfizer statement that was released on March 11.
Dr. Hotez, upon reviewing the data, mentioned that it indicates 90 percent reduction in asymptomatic transmission, which is a good news. Realistically speaking, this suggests that the vaccine may allow people to develop antibodies that decrease the virus levels, in the nose and mouth, making the individuals less capable of transmitting the virus.
The CDC guidelines dictate that recipients of the vaccine may gather indoors without masks or social distancing in some circumstances.
According to a recent study that was released on Monday, the CDC has discovered that the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna vaccines were 90 percent effective against the Covid-19 infection. Additionally, Pfizer also released a report on Wednesday that claimed that its vaccine, the one that was formulated with its German collaborator, BioNTech, continues to be over 90 percent effective even after 6 months of receiving the second shot. Not only that, but the vaccine has proved effective against the South African variant, namely, B.1.351.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, conveyed hopefulness, on a White House briefing on Friday. However, he also mentioned that more data is required to comprehend the level of effectiveness the vaccine projects against the different variants. Nonetheless, Fauci urged Americans to get vaccinated as early as it is available to them.
While these findings bear good news and have the potential of putting an end to this long drawn pandemic, scientists believe it is too early to lift mask restrictions and go back to normalcy.
Then what’s the conclusion? While it is true that vaccines limit the transference of the virus, they do not make the chances zero. Thus, Americans must continue to diligently wear masks.