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Many families have spent the past year separately from each other due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it is hoped that people outside the same household can come together quickly as vaccines become more readily available. .
Once everyone in a family is vaccinated, experts say it should be safe for people to get together, but it will be several months before the vaccine is readily available for the general public to get vaccinated.
It is also important to remember that vaccines take a long time to be effective: doses should be taken several weeks apart (21 or 28 days depending on the vaccine), and it takes about two weeks after the second injection to that the vaccine is fully effective against the virus.
“It would be safe, if everyone in the family had been vaccinated,” said Dr. Colleen Kelley, associate professor of infectious diseases at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Ga., Who is participating in the trials. Moderna and Novavax vaccine clinics. “I think the problem is that it will take a long time to get to the place where everyone in a family is vaccinated, especially if it is a multigenerational family with grandparents, grandchildren and adults. But I think once we get to the place where everyone in the family is vaccinated then yes they should feel free to see each other freely. “
Dr David Buchholz, founding senior medical director of primary care at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, said seeing only a few family members might be safe – for example, if two vaccinated adults visited two grown-ups. -parents fully immunized, this could be relatively safe, but the larger the circle, the greater the risk.
“Chances are, yes, you can go there and visit,” he says. “The odds that you are both unlucky and not getting (the protection) from the vaccine and having the virus at this time are so incredibly low that I think it’s safe to do so, but if this family grows bigger more and more, you increase the chances that one of these people can actually bring the virus into the house. “
While both vaccines are estimated to be 95% effective, Buchholz said that with the amount of virus circulating in the country currently, even that 5% chance can be risky.
Another complicating factor for some families is that vaccines have not been authorized in children: at present, the Pfizer vaccine has been authorized in people over 16 years of age, while the Moderna vaccine has been approved. allowed in people over 16 years of age. 18. Children can be carriers of COVID-19 and therefore may pose a risk to other group members, especially if not everyone has been vaccinated.
Experts have advised most people to continue to take precautions, such as seeing loved ones outdoors or in a well-ventilated space, practicing social distancing, and wearing masks until more of the day. the population is vaccinated.
“I think it’s fair that people start gradually, not immediately, but very gradually, to liberalize their activities,” said Dr. Anne Liu, clinical associate professor of infectious diseases at Stanford Health Care in California. “That doesn’t mean we’re going from 0 to 60 miles per hour … I would still advise some caution, taking it step by step and starting to remove some of the toughest guardrails your family could have. have, but try to keep some in place. “
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