The infectious disease that started in Wuhan, China back in 2019 had became a serious global phenomenon disrupting economies and tearing families apart while exerting casualties and up until now a year later, we’re still battling the adverse outcome of the coronavirus pandemic.

The breakthrough m-RNA vaccine developed by giant pharmaceuticals across the world has proved promising as two of hem have gotten approval and have been rolled out in some first-world countries which is a great thing however, there are some health concerns that medical practitioners have concerning the outcome of the vaccine which aside the general side effects that comes with it, there is still the fear that people might start defiling the social distancing measures as well as stop wearing their masks in public places.

Back in Dec. 2020, Pfizer in partnership with BioNTech got their own vaccines approved and used by the United Kingdom and then the United States as well as the European Union which was a great news for the rest of the world and the emergency usage was administered throughout the states in the US which came in two doses and all were administered.

But some people might have had the confidence that since they’ve gotten both doses of the vaccine, then they’re automatically immune and no longer need to wear their face mask especially in public places.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had warned that everyone continue to wear their face masks while experts on the field made it known that their is every possibility of those vaccinated to continue spreading the disease as well as reinfection for those who have even recovered from the diseases.

Basically, you don’t want to become a liability by refusing to wear your face mask just because you got vaccinated.

The Vaccine is not 100% Protection against the COVID-19

At least not for everyone. The breakdown of why the vaccine come in two doses is because the first dose is meant to build protection while the second shot is needed to improve on the first protection gotten earlier according to what the CDC published.

In a recent report obtained through Dr. Lahn Gonsenhauser who i the chief quality and patient safety officer at the Wexner Medical Center made it known that the first shot has been proven to be highly effective while the second dosage is meant to amplify the protection which will in turn extend the longevity of the immunity.

When the second vaccine is received, you need to give it time to start building up on the immunity against the coronavirus which would usually take up to two weeks according to the medical researches and the CDC.

This period is when you’re required to keep a strong protection of yourself and family by continuing the social distancing measures and wearing of face mask to protect yourself and those around you while also washing your hands often and sanitizing your hand and environment to keep germs off.

Though vaccinated, you can still spread coronavirus

This is the the other fact that you must accept and deal with because despite the fact that you’ve been vaccinated, you are still liable to spreading the coronavirus. In fact, the newness of the vaccine haven’t given enough room for adequate researches and data to be collected to analyze if those vaccinated can still carry the coronavirus and pass it to others without being infected themselves.

“This gives enough time for the virus to grow in the respiratory passages and spread the infection to others, all while the body is fighting its own infection, aided by the vaccine,” said Gonsenhauser.

Because of the lack of adequate data to back up the fact that anyone who’ve been vaccinated can still spread the coronavirus, it’s necessary to take essential care and take care of yourself and those around you by socially distancing from others and wearing the face mask often.

“While the vaccine is highly effective, there’s still a slim chance — 5 to 10% — that after someone gets vaccinated, they could become infected,” Gonsenhauser said. However, more data could become available as scientists and doctors learn more about the effects of the vaccine on COVID-19.

While researches about the protection of the covid-19 vaccine is still under development, it’s necessary to continue obeying the set rules by the health and medical experts on this subject as well as the social distancing protocols which the CDC had put in place.

Reinfection and ‘natural’ immunity

“The immune response, including duration of immunity, to COVID-19 is not yet understood,” the CDC says. And with that, more researches needs to go on in order to understand how the immune system builds up its defense against the coronavirus after the vaccination.

“it’s not known what antibody levels are needed to protect against reinfection.” according to the CDC which also states that the defenses the body is able to accumulate against the coronavirus during and after infection seems to fade really fast which makes it hard to achieve the Herd Immunity over a longer period of time, according to Dr. William Haseltine, a former professor of Harvard Medical School who is renowned for his work on the human genome and HIV/AIDS. 

“The bigger concern is someone becoming reinfected with the same variant of COVID-19, not getting sick themselves, but still being contagious to others. You can get infected twice and be asymptomatic the second time around, and still carry it and transmit it to other more vulnerable people around you,” said John V. Williams, professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh.

Even though there have been really few cases of reinfection of the coronavirus according to the CDC but researches think if the COVID-19 is like other coronaviruses such as the common cold, there is high tendencies for a more prevalent reinfection as time gets by.

Unvaccinated people still don’t wear masks

Even the fact that you’ve been vaccinated doesn’t guarantee that you might not spread the virus not to talk of those who haven’t gotten vaccinated which will probably take much longer before it reaches everyone which is why there is need to constantly follow the social distancing measure as well as wearing your face mask as often as you can in public places.

“If after getting vaccinated, people stop wearing their masks, other people who haven’t been vaccinated could start thinking masks aren’t necessary anymore,” Gonsenhauser said of social behavior. If those unvaccinated people have the virus, they can spread it faster by not wearing a mask.

Vox did a small survey where they detected that people in smaller circles are less likely to wear their face masks which a whooping 32% of their respondents said they don’t wear masks when attending a sit-down gathering.

“Masks are a key measure to suppress transmission and save lives,” the World Health Organization says. If 95% of the public wears a mask, tens of thousands of lives could be saved, according to a Nature Medicine study from October.

How much longer will I have to wear a mask and social distance?

In Japan for example, people who feel slightly sick do wear surgical masks even way back before the face mask became a mandatory practices around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The point I’m making here is that good hygiene is a practice everyone should imbibe on the long run however, there is currently not enough data about when everyone can now stop wearing their face mask as the number of the Covid-19 cases keeps increasing and majority of the world population are yet to be vaccinated.

Important things that could change the social distancing and wearing of mask narratives includes the reduction in the number of reported cases daily as well as observable changes in the spread of the disease as well as the popular saying “Flattening of the curve”

“We would need to see a dramatic decrease in the number of new cases per 100,000 of the population after enough vaccines have been administered,” Gonsenhauser said.