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People who receive any of the Covid-19 vaccines may become the next super-propagators because they might believe they are safe from transmitting the virus.
Harvard University public health student Rushabh Doshi has warned KevinMD – a platform Dr Kevin Pho founded to allow healthcare professionals to share their ideas.
While the various vaccines against Covid-19 and its variants prevent most from developing severe symptoms and dying, the main products may not prevent the virus from continuing to spread.
“Vaccinations against Covid-19 prevent disease, but we know little if they prevent re-infection and further viral transmission,” Mr. Doshi wrote.
People who receive the Covid-19 vaccine may become the next super-propagators because they might believe they are safe from transmitting the virus. Pictured: Senior pharmacist Syed Anas Gilani has senior pharmacist Davinder Manku vaccinated in Dudley, England on January 25
“In fact, vaccinated populations who act assuming they are immune and therefore cannot spread the virus may turn out to be the next super-propagators.”
Mr Doshi said vaccinated members of the public who do not understand that they may still be carriers of the virus “ pose an immediate threat to the unvaccinated. ”
He said it was important to note this due to a “slower than expected rollout of immunization to the general public.”
The Australian government aims to get as many people vaccinated as possible in 2021 – but the rollout will be phased.
Frontline residents for the jab include quarantine and border workers, frontline healthcare workers, senior and disabled care staff, and elderly and disabled care residents .
Mr Doshi urged health authorities to educate the public about vaccines and to ensure that recipients are always aware that they could contract and spread the virus, even though they are largely immune to discomfort. serious.
“As the population begins to receive the vaccination, scientists fear that social distancing measures and mask-wearing behavior will improve,” he wrote.
“We need to carefully educate a population facing severe viral fatigue and discomfort that although receiving the vaccinations appears to prevent serious illness, we do not know if they significantly reduce community transmission of the virus.
Harvard University public health student Rushabh Doshi explained that little is known about whether vaccinated people can still spread the coronavirus
The continuing risk of infection had led Australian health officials to warn that restrictions – on international travel, on large gatherings, use of masks, etc. – will likely have to remain in place for months as long as vaccine rollout continues.
Acting Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd has tempered expectations that jabs will lead to a return to life in pre-pandemic settings, even after the approval of the Pfizer vaccine in Australia.
The two main unknowns are whether coronavirus vaccines prevent transmission of the virus and whether booster shots will be needed each year, like the flu.
“ It only reinforces for us how important it will be – even though we could launch the vaccine across Australia – that people continue to adhere to public health measures, ” Professor Kidd told Tuesday. ABC radio.
Australia has enough doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which has been shown to be 95% effective in late-stage trials, for about five million people.
Elderly and disabled residents will be among the first to receive it, with the program scheduled to start in late February, two weeks after the expected arrival of the first 80,000 doses.
Workers in quarantine, at borders, in frontline health care and in care facilities for the elderly and disabled are also in the first phase.
However, the limited supply of the Pfizer jab means the majority of Australians are likely to receive the AstraZeneca jab, which has yet to be approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, but is expected to roll out in March.
The AstraZeneca jab has an efficiency rate of around 70% lower, but is much easier to transport and store than the Pfizer version, which requires extremely cold conditions – beyond the capacity of most GP surgeries. – and is also much cheaper to produce.
The two vaccines are significantly different in how they work. The Astra Zeneca product works like most vaccines – by introducing a small amount of the weakened virus into the body so that the immune system can create antibodies that destroy it, so if a subsequent actual infection of the virus enters the system, the antibodies are already present and ready to attack it.
In contrast, the Pfizer vaccine uses innovative gene-editing technology, “teaching” cells how to produce a particular protein that triggers the immune response in the event of subsequent Covid-19 infection.
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