Beat Covid-19 through mass vaccination

Covid-19 vaccination

Covid-19 Taskforce Chairman Willis Akhwale receives a jab at Mutuini Hospital on March 9, 2018 during the vaccination rollout in Nairobi County.

Photo credit: Kanyiri Wahito | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Experts say vaccination does not mean the end of the virus.
  • The vaccine makes about 95 per cent of people less likely to becoming a vector for transmitting the virus.

Cases are coming to light in which people who have received the Covid-19 vaccine have later tested positive.

From actor Paresh Rawal to former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, Representative Stephen Lynch (Democrat) of Massachusetts, US, tested positive for the coronavirus after receiving the Pfizer vaccine for the second time. 

Hall of Fame basketball coach Rick Pitino, who coached the men’s team at Iona College, New York, tested positive after taking the first dose. 

Why is this happening? Actually, there is a gap between vaccination and protection. After getting the vaccine, people wrongly think they are safe and accessible; they can do and go anywhere they want.

Everybody needs to understand that once we have mass vaccination, the virus will have access to so few hosts that it will not be able to spread to new ones, and we hope it will die out.

Viruses, by nature, can only reproduce within a living host. A lethal virus such as Covid-19 will either kill the host and die by itself or the host’s immune system will kill it. Therefore, the virus can only survive by constantly jumping around and infecting new hosts.

Even after you are vaccinated, wear a face mask in public, maintain social distance and obey other safety protocols, including advice from the government. Also, follow the immunisation rules prescribed by doctors and get the second dose on time.

Vaccines don't cure diseases

Experts say vaccination does not mean the end of the virus. The vaccine makes about 95 per cent of people less likely (if not immune) to becoming a vector for transmitting the virus. In fact, infection will still occur but a vaccinated person will have antibodies that will very quickly identify the virus and eradicate it before it has a chance to reproduce.

No vaccine guarantees 100 per cent protection against the virus. Some people believe that getting infected after vaccination may be a case of re-infection but this is not true; the purpose of vaccination is to change a serious infection to a mild one.

A jab reduces the likelihood of transferring the virus from one person to another to keep them safe.

Many people have had this happen. It’s nothing to do with vaccine efficacy. The first shot of the vaccine takes at least two weeks to build up immunity, which is between 50 and 70 per cent efficacious.

A coronavirus infection takes three to five days to give you Covid-19. If you are infected three or four days before getting the jab, or up to 14 days after vaccination, the vaccine has not had time to become effective.

Remember, vaccines do not cure diseases; they prevent infections from developing. If the prevention mechanism has not yet been developed in the body, then the vaccine cannot help.

The bottom line is, the vaccine will be useless if not enough people take it. If we achieve at least a 80 per cent uptake of the vaccine, then that should be enough to stop Covid-19 in its tracks.

Mr Surjit is a veteran journalist and freelance writer based in Brampton, Canada. [email protected].