People who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 could still spread the virus to others, England’s deputy chief medical officer has claimed. Dr Jonathan Van-Tam urged people who have received the vaccine to follow restrictions, adding that scientists still do not know what effect the vaccine has on them.
Van-Tam, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, said vaccines offer ” hope ” but that the focus should still be on reducing disease rates.
Earlier, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said 75 per cent of people over the age of 80 have had their first virus injection.
Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines require two doses. Hancock said three-quarters of care homes were also vaccinated.
Van-Tam said “vaccination” has never been fully effective, so protection from the virus may not be guaranteed.
In the few weeks after receiving the vaccine, people were able to contract the virus. He recommended that people be allowed “at least three weeks” to develop an immune response among the elderly.
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“Even after you have received both doses of the vaccine you may give Covid-19 to someone else and then the distribution chains will continue,” said Dr. Van-Tam.
“If you change your behavior you could still spread the virus, keep the number of cases high and put others at risk who need their vaccine but are further down the queue, “he said.
Last week, the person involved in the Israeli coronavirus response said that a single dose of Pfizer vaccine may not be as effective.
Even then, Israel has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. Scientists around the world are using data from Israel as the benchmark to determine the effectiveness of the vaccine, especially when it is given to the entire population.
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Yuli Edelstein, the country’s health minister, said it was possible for people to ” remain ill ” after receiving the pilot injection of any vaccine.
But the minister said there were “encouraging signs of less serious diseases”, adding that fewer people are being hospitalized after the first injection.