People should follow the same rules as everybody else – even after they’ve gotten their second vaccine dose.
You’re fully vaccinated against the coronavirus – now what? Don’t expect to shed your mask and get back to normal activities right away. That’s going to be a disappointment, if not a shock, to many people. In Miami,81-year-old Noemi Caraballo got her second dose on Tuesday and is looking forward to seeing friends, resuming fitness classes and running errands after nearly a year of being extremely cautious, even ordering groceries online. “Her line is, ‘I’m tired of talking to the cats and the parrots,’ ” said her daughter Susan Caraballo. “She wants to do things and talk to people.” But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn’t yet changed its guidelines: At least for now, people should follow the same rules as everybody else about wearing a mask, keeping a 6-foot distance and avoiding crowds – even after they’ve gotten their second vaccine dose. Vaccines in use so far require two doses, and experts say especially don’t let your guard down after the first dose. “You’re asking a very logical question,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, responded when a 91-year-old California woman recently asked if she and her vaccinated friends could resume their mah-jongg games. In that webcast exchange, Fauci only could point to the CDC’s recommendations, which so far are mum about exceptions for vaccinated people getting together. “Hang on,” he told the woman, saying he expected updates to the guidelines as more people get the coveted shots. What experts also need to learn: The vaccines are highly effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19, especially severe illness and death – but no one yet knows how well they block spread of the coronavirus. It’s great if the vaccine means someone who otherwise would have been hospitalized instead just has the sniffles, or even no symptoms. But “the looming question,” Fauci said during a White House coronavirus response briefing last week, is whether a person infected despite vaccination can still, unwittingly, infect someone else.
