Why are you getting the vaccine and still wearing a mask? The experts give the answer.

Get the COVID-19 vaccine and you will be advised to keep wearing a mask and stay away from other people. Andy Slavitt, the chief White House adviser on the COVID-19 response, said there is an immediate benefit to an individual who gets a vaccine. “People are interested in getting the vaccine,” he said at a news conference on Monday, because “they don’t want to get sick and they don’t want to die.” Taking two injections of the Moderna vaccine or Pfizer-Bio-Tech reduces a person’s risk of developing symptoms of COVID-19 by about 95%, according to large research trials, but life will not return to normal for the wider community until national infection rates decrease, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci. . Dr. Rochelle Wallinski, the nation’s chief infectious disease expert, is the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although infection and hospitalization rates have fallen sharply since their peak on January 10, the rates remain extremely high, Wallinski said. , Staying above previous peak levels last summer. Nearly 66,000 people become infected with the COVID-19 virus every day in the United States. “There are things that, even if they were vaccinated, you wouldn’t be able to do in the community, for example, eat in closed spaces and theaters, (go) to places where people congregate,” Fauci said. It is also possible, although research is increasingly indicating that it is unlikely, that people who have been vaccinated can still transmit the virus, even if they themselves do not get sick, Fauci said: “For this reason, we want to make sure that people continue to wear Masks despite the fact that they were vaccinated. ” “This is a D-Day for Our Generation”: With the United States surpassing 500,000 deaths from COVID-19, exhausted health care workers are still fighting heartbreak, and the CDC is still working to determine what is safe and what is. Not safe for those who are vaccinated. Walinsky said the agency concluded that “if you are vaccinated and you are vaccinated fully – the doses – there is no longer a need for quarantine after exposure.” Paul Offitt, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said his behavior has changed since he got two investigations. “As a vaccinated person, I definitely feel different,” although I may be one of those 1 in 20 unprotected. “Offit agrees that it is still not safe for people who have been vaccinated to go out in the crowd, because infection rates are still very high. US death toll: In one year, COVID-19 kills enough Americans to fill a city: He said it’s not Obviously, what threshold should allow people to drop their guards – and masks -. But we’re going to get there relatively soon, and I think the numbers will get better and better. Most likely, the virus levels will now drop over the summer and then rise again, ”Ofit said. Temperatures drop, and the wings he works on are usually full at this time of year with children fighting influenza or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and seasonal respiratory viruses, which have nearly stopped due to masking and spacing, so maybe, Offit said, we’ll want In wearing masks every winter to protect ourselves and our loved ones from all types of respiratory viruses. Health coverage and patient safety at USA TODAY is made possible in part through a grant from the Massimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Massimo Foundation does not provide input Editorial.