SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP)-Just over 4 percent of Americans have rolled up their arm and gotten at least the first dose of the covid-19 vaccine.
Immunity won’t come until after the second shot, but even after that’s done, there’s a chance they can still give the virus to others.
“Until we have enough data to say, ‘yes if you get the vaccine there is not way to transmit it’, we still have to move under the presumption, you can still transmit the infection,” said Dr. Esteban DelPilar.
“It sends a message to everybody, if we just keep our masks on, it makes other people feel comfortable and in return I want you to make me feel comfortable,” said Peter Perez of Springfield. “I want you to make me, my family, and my mother who is diabetic, have her feel comfortable when she is out and about.”
That’s why mask wearing and social distancing are still so important to do, even after getting vaccinated. Dr. DelPilar also explained how long could it take to reach herd immunity as a society.
“We would need to have basically 90ish percent of the population vaccinated before we could say there is enough of the population vaccinated, so that even though the virus is still around we could halt its transmission,” said Dr. DelPilar.
Dr. DelPilar said we could reach those numbers for herd immunity by later summer or early fall, but that is entirely dependent on how fast the country can rollout the vaccine over the course of the year.
And Johnson and Johnson’ COVID-19 vaccine could be significant in achieving herd immunity faster, since it’s only one dose and doesn’t need to be stored at extremely cold temperatures. The FDA is expected to make a decision on approving it in February, after reviewing the results from their clinical trials.
