The UK has become the first country to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for widespread use, but we don’t know if the vaccines stop transmission!
40 Million Vaccines Against COVID-19
The UK government has ordered 40 million doses, and the first batch of 800,000 doses is expected to be shipped from Belgium – where the vaccine is being made – in the next couple of days. It will be enough to immunize 400,000 people (two doses per person).
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Preventing At COVID-19 But Not Sure About The Transmission
Although the vaccines in late-stage trials seem to be highly effective at preventing symptomatic COVID, we can’t yet be sure that they prevent transmission of the virus.
For this, we would need a vaccine that provides so-called sterilizing immunity. This is where immune cells can bind to the virus to prevent it from entering cells where they can start to replicate. So even six weeks after receiving the first jab, you may still get infected with the coronavirus – even if you don’t get sick.
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Protected But Still Transmitted
Studies from the Oxford vaccine's preclinical phase found that rhesus macaques immunized with the vaccine were protected from serious disease and had no lung damage evidence. But they still had coronavirus infection in their upper-respiratory tract and virus shedding from their noses. If this is the same with humans, it would suggest that they might still spread the virus while they will be protected from symptomatic disease.
We Don’t Know If The Vaccines Stop Transmission.
At this stage, we don’t know if the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines stop transmission either, although further studies will hopefully tease this out.
If you have been vaccinated, there is a small chance – at least one in twenty – that the vaccine won’t protect you. So even if you have been vaccinated – and full rollout may not be complete till the summer of 2021 – you should still wear a mask, work from home if you can, and practice social distancing. As for good hand hygiene, let’s try to keep that going – viruses, including probably SARS-CoV-2, will always be among us.
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