Scientists warn that while Covid-19 vaccines protect against serious illness, transmissibility can still occur, and inoculated people can pass the infection on to others.
Covid-19 vaccines protect against serious illness but transmissibility can still continue and inoculated people can pass on the infection to others, say scientists, warning against complacency in those who stop maintaining protocol after they get their jabs.
Transmissibility from vaccinated persons can be a risk factor until global coverage is achieved, “Vaccination is simply one of the many different strategies we have to deal with in the pandemic. However, it is not a magical one-stop solution,” immunologist Satyajit Rath, from New Delhi’s National Institute of Immunology, told PTI.
“None of the vaccines currently available provide protection against transmission of the virus. Statistically speaking, infection post-vaccination is likely to be milder than one without,” added Vineeta Bal, an immunologist from Pune’s Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research.
As researchers around the world try and figure out how well Covid-19 vaccines prevent vaccinated people from transmitting the virus to others, the experts stressed the need for masks and physical distance regardless of the vaccination status. This has to continue until the majority of people are vaccinated.
The scientists also batted for universal vaccination, saying it would provide strong community resistance to severe local outbreaks. Cautioning against lowering of the guard even after vaccination, they said some people who get inoculated early may lose their immunological memory over a period of time and become vulnerable again.
Vaccination remains an individual protection, not a community protection until we achieve almost global vaccination coverage. It is possible that vaccine-resistant virus variants will emerge, necessitating steady watchfulness and the rapid development-deployment of next-generation vaccines,” Rath said.
Bal agreed that disease severity will be low in vaccinated individuals as compared to those without vaccination.
“This is likely to be true even with variant viruses. Hence being vaccinated is a better state of affairs at a population level as well as individually,” Bal told PTI.
Rath noted that if an individual is effectively vaccinated, meaning they develop robust long-lasting levels of neutralising antibodies, then reinfection with vaccine-sensitive SARS-CoV-2 strains, even if it happens, is likely to be associated with only mild illness.
On the other hand, he said, a new infection with vaccine-resistant SARS-CoV-2 strains might still cause severe illness in some cases.
“So yes, vaccinated individuals could still pass on the infection, though the chance and the dose passed on would be lower. Of course, if they are infected with a future vaccine-resistant virus strain, then efficient transmission could occur,” he explained.
According to Rath, the idea behind this strategy is ‘herd immunity,’ where the transmission cycle of the virus is broken if enough people are effectively vaccinated. And therefore, even unvaccinated people no longer get infected, simply because the virus is no longer around.
“The trouble is that we don’t have a very reliable idea of what percentage of the community needs to be vaccinated for effective ‘herd immunity’ for SARS-CoV-2, he added
The scientist explained that universal vaccination would be “nice” since it would provide very strong community resistance to severe local outbreaks.
Source: PTI
Read Today's News TODAY... on our Telegram Channel click here to join and receive all the latest updates t.me/thetimeskuwait
