As vaccination is going on across the world, there are a lot of burning questions in the minds of people. If you are like me, you might have questions about the vaccine, questions like “If I have I get vaccinated, can I still get infected or spread the virus?”. In this article, I answer some important questions.
If you have been vaccinated, can you still spread coronavirus?
In a report by The Guardian, Professor Deborah Fuller, a microbiologist, at the School of Medicine, University of Washington, USA explained how getting vaccinated can impact a person. She explained that getting vaccinated doesn’t 100% avert the possibility of getting infected.
However, it reduces the risk of you getting infected by the virus or becoming seriously ill by the virus. A person who has been vaccinated is less likely to be infected with the virus. It takes about two weeks for your immune system to respond and is now fully vaccinated.
Professor Fuller also working on the coronavirus vaccines explained that a vaccinated person has zero chances of falling seriously ill or dying from the virus but he/she is not completely prevented from getting infected.
Experts believe that vaccines prevent the virus from infecting cells completely. But generally, a vaccinated person is protected against the disease, not necessarily from infection. However, the immune system of each person differs slightly. Thus, if a vaccine is 95% effective, it means that 95% of the people who receive the vaccine will not get sick. These people can be completely protected from infections or they can become infected but remain immune because their immune systems kill the virus very quickly.
The other five per cent of those vaccinated may become ill, but are unlikely to be hospitalized. The vaccine does not prevent you 100 per cent from becoming infected, but generally boosts your immune system against the coronavirus.
Does infection always mean transmission?
Transmission occurs when viral particles from an infected person are contracted by an uninfected person. Although anyone infected with the coronavirus can transmit it, A vaccinated person is less likely to transmit the virus to others. The vaccine limits the chances of this happening. Generally, if vaccination doesn’t completely prevent infection, it will make you shed or shorten the time that you shed the virus. As a result, a person who sheds less virus is less likely to transmit it to someone else.
A recent study by Israeli researchers, where 2,897 vaccinated people were tested for signs of coronavirus found out that persons who were vaccinated had no sign of the virus.
However, the study discovered one quarter the amount of virus in Infected people in Unvaccinated people. Thus, less virus limits the chance of a vaccinated person spreading the virus compared to an unvaccinated person.
What about new coronavirus variants?
New variants of the virus have been discovered in recent times. Vaccines are less effective for some. B1351, a variant of the virus was first discovered in South Africa. For variations, this means that almost 40% of vaccinees can be infected. This means that vaccinated people can transmit new strains coronavirus habits. Hopefully, vaccines will soon reduce coronavirus deaths worldwide. The development of more effective vaccines will determine how long before humanity can resist a coronavirus pandemic.
