Why continue to wear the mask after vaccination?

The number of vaccinated people in Latvia finally exceeds 10%, but this is just the beginning of the road to ensure the immunity of the crowd, which needs about 70% of vaccinated people. COVID-19. The loads of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines delivered in Latvia are gradually increasing, while the safety of using Johnson & Johnson vaccines is also confirmed in Europe. Although more and more people are being vaccinated, experts stress that your vaccination status does not eliminate the need for masks and other safety measures.

1. When are you considered fully vaccinated?

The person is considered to have been fully vaccinated only two weeks after receiving the second dose of Moderna or Pfizer; and two weeks after receiving a single dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
You should not consider yourself protected until you receive the second dose.

2. Do fully vaccinated people still need to wear masks?

Simplified answer: yes! While we get to fully vaccinated people can gather with other fully vaccinated people without masks, in most situations we may have at least one unvaccinated person around us and so it is important to still wear a mask and stay at least 2 meters away from others.
There are still some unanswered questions: Although vaccines may not seem to prevent people from developing the disease, it is not clear whether fully vaccinated people can safely transmit and infect other unvaccinated people with the virus.
Vaccination does not protect against covid 100%. For example, to date, 8000 vaccinees in the United States (out of 200 million vaccinated) have contracted Covid-19. Most of these people became relatively mild, and as many as 29% had asymptomatic infections, but hospitalization was required in only a few cases.

3. Is the exact possibility of the virus spreading after vaccination known?

Early data suggests that vaccines may help people not pass on COVID-19, but scientists are constantly gaining new data with more vaccinees. Each person’s immune response may be slightly different, so with even more vaccinated scientists, there will be more information about what the possible exceptions are. Experts have also warned that antibodies to those who developed the original variant of Covid-19 may not protect against, for example, the increasingly circulating South African variant or a future mutation in the virus.
The duration of immunity of Covid-19 vaccines is also being studied. There is a possibility that a booster dose will be needed in months or years. This is not uncommon, as the flu is vaccinated every year, but the diphtheria vaccine is renewed every 10 years.

People who have received the vaccine should be treated in the same way as those who have not had access to the vaccine for the time being, this can still help to slow the spread of the disease, as the long-term persistence of the vaccine, exposure to different types of coronavirus and crowd immunity have yet to be studied.