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When can I stop wearing a mask?
Add yourself to your masks for the foreseeable future. Right now, there are several unknowns that make masked clothing and social distancing important to protect the community at large.
First, scientists do not know how Covid-19 vaccines can protect against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 transmission (as explained above). There are promising signs, but the investigation remains incomplete. Researchers also don’t know how long Covid-19 vaccines can protect people against the virus.
Scientists will also look closely at how evolutionary changes in the virus or its variants affect the effectiveness of vaccines. Researchers have already found that the effectiveness of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was reduced in South Africa, where variant B1351 is found.
However, the most important factor may be the extent to which eligible adults accept the vaccine. Children are able to spread the disease, but are not eligible for the vaccine; some people may be too committed to immunity to take them; and others may face bureaucratic barriers to vaccination.
What’s the point of the vaccine if I still have to wear a mask?
Think of the use of masks and social distancing as a continuum of risk mitigation strategies, which exist as scientists conduct research, more and more people are vaccinated, and the prevalence of Covid-19 is declining.
For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people can gather indoors, without masks, with other people completely vaccinated. People are considered “completely vaccinated” two weeks after receiving their last vaccine. People themselves should be aware of social distancing and the use of masks in public, as they could transmit the disease to the community at large.
The hope is that as more and more people are vaccinated, fewer people will have severe cases of Covid-19 and the pressure on the healthcare system will decrease with the prevalence of the disease.
“Hopefully the majority of the population can be vaccinated,” said Dr. Bruce Y Lee, a professor of health policy at City University of New York’s School of Public Health. “That’s when we can start talking about normalization.”
When will we have these answers?
Studies on the extent to which vaccines protect against transmission continue and are promising, but incomplete. Vaccines are unlikely to provide complete or “sterilizing” protection. Only a handful of vaccines can make this claim, including, for example, the smallpox vaccine. However, if a vaccine significantly reduced transmission, it would be good news for the global ability to contain the virus.
Under normal circumstances, such questions could have been answered in vaccine clinical trials for years. In this emergency situation, stopping the disease was a more important goal and the available vaccines do so very effectively.
“We would probably know that more and more people are getting vaccinated, around mid-September,” August said.
But it’s important to note that vaccines don’t necessarily have to provide complete protection to help fight the pandemic. “If everyone is vaccinated, there are fewer viruses around,” August said.
