Monday | 7 October 2024 | Reg No- 06
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Do vaccinated people need to maintain social distancing?

Published : Thursday, 21 January, 2021 at 12:00 AM  Count : 716
ZUBAIR KHALED HUQ
Now the world has successfully completed history's fastest development of a new vaccine. The vaccinesare said to be safe. One question comes around that after vaccination life will be as before vaccination? Theoretically, a vaccine should stop the infection as well as the transmission and spread. Butwe don't know yet if that is true of the COVID-19 vaccines.        

The focus of the clinical trials was narrow. It had to be because of the time constraints. Scientists wanted andwill want to know whether these things prevented illness. But getting those questions answered fast came at the expense of answering other questions like whether vaccinated people can still spread the virus. So, experts are being careful balancing their excitement and relief with caution that you can't just switch off and return to a normal state of being. They need a little more timeto know for sure.  

If someone was protected from symptoms ofCOVID-19 but still capable of spreading it, it would be shocking.  The virus enters in through the upper-respiratory tracts, either through your nose or your throat that is protectedby a mucous layer. This layer is good at slowing things down from getting intoyou. But it also acts as a barrier for things like antibodies, and certainlyfor cells from getting out and meeting the virus as it comes in. Even if a vaccine has trained your immune cells to put away viruses they spot, they mightnot be able to neutralize the ones resting in your nose, on the other side ofyour mucous barriers.    

Do a person once vaccinated, less susceptible, and less sick can still spread influenza around the community? That's the kindof thing scientists are worried about. But they're also optimistic. The answer will be that people will not be able to transmit the virus, it will protect from transmission, because there will be enough antibodies made that will neutralize the virus even at the mucosal surface. The vaccines probably shall turn out tobe more effective than flu vaccines. If you have a vaccine that's 95 per cent effective at reducing symptoms, it shall also reduce the likelihood of transmission.    

So, it'll be a little longer until vaccinated individuals can let their guard down. Even after you get your twoshots of vaccination, you should wear a mask and avoid crowds and situations where you could spread the virus to a lot of other people. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is sponsoring studies that involve looking atthe households of vaccinated people to see what impact vaccination has on closecontact spread. And researchers will continue to monitor trial participants to see if they're spreading the virus.    
The new vaccines will probably prevent you from getting sick with Covid-19. No one knows yet whether they will keep you from spreading the virus to others but that information is coming. The new Covid-19 vaccine leaves open the possibility that some vaccinated people get infected without developing symptoms, and could then silently transmit the virus especially if they come in close contact with others or stop wearing masks. If vaccinated peopleare silent spreaders of the virus, they may keep it circulating in their communities, putting unvaccinated people at risk. So it seems if vaccination begins, it shall have to have the policy of vaccinating all not leaving anyone behind, probably phase by phase. Those who are vaccinated still have to wearmasks.   

A lot of people are thinking that once they get vaccinated, they're not going to wear masks anymore. It's really going to be critical for them to know if they have to keep wearing masks, because they could still be contagious. In most respiratory infections, including the new coronavirus, the nose is the main port of entry. The virus rapidly multiplies there, jolting the immune system to produce a type of antibodies that are specific to mucosa, the moist tissue lining the nose, mouth, lungs and stomach. If the same person is exposed to the virus a second time, those antibodies, as well as immune cells that remember the virus, rapidly shut down the virus in the nose before it gets a chance to take hold elsewhere in the body.

The coronavirus vaccines, in contrast, areinjected deep into the muscles and stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies. This appears to be enough protection to keep the vaccinated personfrom getting ill. Some of those antibodies will circulate in the blood to the nasal mucosa and stand guard there, but it's not clear how much of the antibody pool can be mobilized, or how quickly.    
 If any exotic object enters the body, it will have some effect on the body. Similarly like many other drugs any vaccinehas side effects that will differentiate people. Some will have nothing, some will have mild fever, some will have vaccination swollen or red, some will have headache, some will cry for fear of injection. These are normal incidents within the limits of any vaccination. But in biology, nothing is hundred per cent certain except the death of living animals.    

If a vaccine or any other drug is 99.99 % safe then there is a faint chance of having side effects. If this is used on a huge amount of people, a very few may get side effects. Even a medicine that is sosafe cannot be safe for all. On the other hand, with the death of Coronavirus, it is about 1.5 % in Bangladesh.  18 million people are likely to die. So, to protect yourself from the virus, you should understand whether vaccination should be given or not. One should not keep any stone untouched. We should understand vaccination is not protective, it is preventive. Even if you are vaccinated it shall take months to get immunity, before that we should use all other ways and means to get protected.

The government of Bangladesh is not bringing any trial vaccine that will be tested on the people of this country and given to developed countries. Already phase one two and three trials are completed in other countries, which is a plus point for us. Developed countrieshave started vaccinations with these vaccines, before that, scientifically tested   thousands of people to determine the efficiency and safety of these vaccines.

One must take a vaccine to protect himand his family from the risk of death from Corona. Definitely those frontliners that are getting exposed to the virus regularly should be vaccinated first, for the sake of protecting others and then get protected. You have to remember that you are not fully safe even if you take a corona vaccine. If everyone uses a mask and follows the health rules, maintain social distancing to save life and leave others safe, only then we all are safe.
Dr Zubair Khaled Huq , Family Medicine, Gerontology, Public
Health Specialist     






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