- Experts say people can still spread and even develop COVID-19 after getting a vaccine.
- They note the immunity from the vaccine doesn’t begin to emerge until at least 12 days after inoculation.
- They add the vaccine doesn’t prevent coronavirus infection. It helps protect against serious illnesses.
- Experts advise people who get vaccinated to continue wearing a mask, washing their hands, and maintaining proper physical distancing.
There’s growing evidence that even after you receive a COVID-19 vaccine, you still should mask up and maintain your physical distance.
That’s because you can still be infected by the novel coronavirus.
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a congressional representative from New Jersey, said she got her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine and was careful to continue isolating herself.
She is 75 years old and a cancer survivor.
However, in an op-ed in the Washington Post, Coleman writes she believes she contracted the virus while in lockdown for hours, in close quarters, following the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Coleman was careful to wear her mask but says she’s angry other lawmakers did not and put her at risk. A few days later, she and a handful of other representatives tested positive for COVID-19.
In San Diego, a 45-year-old emergency nurse known only as Matthew W. got his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in mid-December.
Six days later, after working a shift in the COVID unit, he developed chills, muscle pain, and fatigue, and tested positive.
And in the United Kingdom, one of the first people to get the Pfizer vaccine, 85-year-old Colin Horseman, died a few days after testing positive for COVID-19.
He had been admitted to the hospital for a suspected kidney infection in late December and may have acquired the virus there.
He was scheduled to get his second dose of the vaccine 2 days before he died.
Source: healthline