People are eager to return to “normal” practices after being vaccinated, but not all these behaviors are safe yet.
In the United States, the situation surrounding COVID-19 is finally looking up. Though new cases per day are around 50,000-70,000, and deaths per day are around 500-1,500, these figures are significantly lower than those of this past late fall and winter. This decrease in cases is partly due to increasing vaccination rates. More than 93 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and more than 51 million have been fully vaccinated.
Many Americans are excited by these developments. As the vaccine becomes available to more people, it seems that we will soon be able to put this whole pandemic behind us. However, adopting this premature mindset of invincibility is incredibly risky.
You are only considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the dose of a one-dose vaccine like the Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine or the second dose of a two-dose vaccine like the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines state that once you are fully vaccinated, you can gather indoors with other fully vaccinated people without wearing a mask and gather indoors with unvaccinated people from one other household unless anyone living there is at high-risk for developing a severe illness from COVID-19. Additionally, if you have been exposed to COVID-19, you do not need to stay away from others or get tested unless you experience symptoms.
You should still practice social distancing and wear a mask when in public, in contact with unvaccinated people from more than one household, and visiting someone who is at high-risk or living with someone who is at high-risk. You should also still avoid medium or large-sized gatherings, avert domestic and international travel, watch out for COVID-19 symptoms, and follow the guidelines of your institution(s).
And, there is still much we do not know about the effectiveness of the vaccine. There are only three vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US: the Pfizer vaccine, the Moderna vaccine, and the Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine is 95-100% effective, the Moderna vaccine is 86.4-94.1% effective, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is 72-86% effective.
We do not know entirely how long they are effective for, how much they keep people from spreading COVID-19, and how effective these vaccines are against variants.
The last uncertainty is especially concerning as the B.1.17 variant is 50% more transmissible and increases the risk of severe illness and death. This variant accounts for more than 11,500 cases in the US. Other variants like B.1.351 and P.1 are also more transmissible but have no increase in severity. There have been about 484 reported cases of these two variants combined. We should be mindful of these variants even after being fully vaccinated.
As America looks to put the pandemic behind us, we must be cognizant of the current risks still posed. Knowledge of CDC guidelines can help continue to keep everyone safe.
