Should I still wear a mask after getting the coronavirus vaccine? Yes for many reasons. – NJ.com

Roughly 1% of New Jersey residents have received both doses of the coronavirus vaccine, sparking inquiries and concerns as to whether or not this means they no longer have to mask up.

The short answer? Yes, they do.

David Cennimo, an infectious disease specialist for the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, said the most pessimistic reason why residents who have been inoculated should continue wearing a mask while in public and unable to social distance is because they could be in the minority of people for whom the vaccines are not effective.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been found to prevent 95% of cases of the virus, and the Moderna vaccine, 94.5% effective.

Beyond this reason, Cennimo said that its significant to note that medical experts dont know that people who have been given the vaccine cant still transmit the coronavirus.

Im vaccinated, but I dont know that I am not infected with COVID, Cennimo said. I know that I feel well; I know that I dont have a fever. But I could be harboring the coronavirus in my nose right now; I could be breathing it out so because of that its still my responsibility to wear a mask, because I dont know that Im infection-free.

And thats one of the hardest things to explain to people, because if you got it in your head that I just needed to get the vaccine and then everything was going to be good, then were just going to go back to normal, we dont have the data to tell you you can go back to normal yet, Cennimo said.

Its equally important to recognize that immunity does not kick in immediately after becoming vaccinated. It takes a week after the second dose for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to become 95% effective. For Modernas vaccine, efficacy reaches 94.5% two weeks after become fully vaccinated, The Washington Post reported.

I even have friends in medicine who were like, Oh, I want to go out to eat, I got my vaccine today. I was like, Please tell me youre joking, Cennimo said. You could go out to eat, but you could have gone out to eat yesterday. You got the vaccine in the last 24 hours; theres nothing different happening in your body.

So, will there ever be a time when New Jersey residents no longer have to wear a mask?

At some point, but not in the immediate future. While initially projecting that 60% to 70% of the U.S. population must be inoculated to achieve herd immunity, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and presidential advisor, has since revised this language and said that it may take closer to 90 percent immunity to bring the coronavirus to a halt, The New York Times reported.

Until then even if youve been fortunate enough to become vaccinated wear a mask.

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Caroline Fassett may be reached at cfassett@njadvancemedia.com.

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Should I still wear a mask after getting the coronavirus vaccine? Yes for many reasons. - NJ.com