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Seniors should not kiss their grandchildren even if they have received a second dose of a coronavirus vaccine, an expert said today.
Professor Anthony Harnden, vice-chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunization (JCVI), said it might not be safe to break social distancing rules even after receiving two doses.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, a listener asked Professor Harnden if he was allowed to kiss his school-aged grandchildren, with the JCVI vice-president responding: ‘no’.
“You have to be very careful and remember that even after the second dose of the vaccine, it is not necessarily 100% effective,” he said.
“At the moment we still have to be careful and obey the rules and I don’t think kissing grandchildren is allowed.”
Professor Harnden added that while the vaccine offers protection against serious illnesses, the degree of protection it provides overall is still unknown.
“Well, it will give you very good protection against serious illness and hospitalization, but we don’t yet know how much protection it will offer against asymptomatic infections,” he said.
Research by Public Health Scotland found that four weeks after the first dose, hospital admissions were reduced by 94% for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were shown to have efficiencies of 95% and 94.5% respectively.
Government advisers have said the UK’s vaccination schedule should continue to be age-based, with people aged 40 to be offered a vaccine within weeks.
Professor Harnden’s comments come as Sage scientist Susan Michie warned people could follow lockdown restrictions less strictly after being vaccinated against the coronavirus.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today program: “The problem is, as the immunization program rolls out and more and more people are getting vaccinated and seeing other people in their community getting vaccinated. vaccinate, people risk letting their guard down. “
She said the evidence comes from Lyme disease and flu vaccine deployments where those vaccinated were less likely to adhere to preventative behaviors.
In national surveys in December, around 29% of people said that after being vaccinated they would follow the rules less strictly and 11% said they would not follow the rules.
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