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The Guardian
Should I wear a mask after receiving the Covid vaccine? Science explained
With Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine on the verge of distribution in the United States, the end of the pandemic appears to be a big step forward. But not everything will return to normal right away. Public health officials want people to continue wearing masks and social distancing, even after receiving a vaccine. It may seem counterintuitive – after all, if someone gets the vaccine, isn’t they protected against the coronavirus? The answer is complicated: the vast majority of people vaccinated will be protected from Covid-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, people who have been vaccinated may still be able to transmit the virus, even if they do not have any symptoms. “We now know that vaccines can protect, but what we haven’t had enough time to really understand is – does that protect against the spread?” said Avery August, professor of immunology at Cornell University. This is because the SARS-CoV-2 virus can still colonize the airways, even though systemic immune cells protect the body as a whole from the disease it causes – Covid-19. Here’s how it works: Default When can I stop wearing a mask? Hold on to your masks for the foreseeable future. At present, there are several unknowns that make mask wearing and social distancing important to protect the community at large. First, scientists are unsure 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. Researchers are also unsure how long Covid-19 vaccines can protect people from the virus. Scientists will also closely monitor the impact of evolutionary changes in the virus or its variants on vaccine effectiveness. Researchers have already found that the effectiveness of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was 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 are capable of spreading the disease, but are not eligible for the vaccine; some people may be too immunocompromised to take it; and others may face bureaucratic obstacles to immunization. What is the point of getting vaccinated if I still have to wear a mask? See mask wearing and social distancing as a continuum of risk mitigation strategies, which are in place as scientists conduct research, more people are getting vaccinated, and the prevalence of Covid-19 is declining. For example, as vaccines continue to roll out, small gatherings of vaccinated people will become more common. These same people then need to be conscientious about social distancing and wearing a mask in public, as they could potentially transmit the disease into the wider community. The hope is that as the population is vaccinated, fewer and fewer people will have severe cases of Covid-19, and the pressure on the health system will decrease with the prevalence of the disease. “I hope we can get a majority of the population vaccinated,” said Dr Bruce Y Lee, professor of health policy at the School of Public Health at the University of the City of New York. “That’s when we can start talking about moving to normal.” When will we have these answers? Studies on the extent to which vaccines protect against transmission continue and are promising, but incomplete. Vaccines are unlikely to provide complete or “sterilizing” protection. Only a handful of vaccines can make this claim, including for example the smallpox vaccine. However, if a vaccine drastically reduced transmission, that would be great news for the world’s ability to contain the virus. Under normal circumstances, these types of questions could have been answered in clinical trials of vaccines that lasted for years. In this emergency, stopping the disease was a more important goal, and the vaccines available do this very effectively. “We would probably know that more and more people are getting vaccinated, somewhere around mid-September,” August said. But it’s important to note that vaccines don’t necessarily have to provide complete protection to help fight the pandemic. “If everyone is vaccinated, there are fewer viruses,” August said.
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