A person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the last required dose of vaccine. The AstraZeneca vaccine currently being offered for COVID-19 prevention in Nigeria is a two-dose regimen that must be taken between eight and 12 weeks of the first vaccination.

However, the Director of the Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, Dr. Joshua LaBaer, warns that one reason to keep your guard up after getting one dose of a two-dose vaccine is that infection while having partial protection sets up the potential for the virus to mutate, hence the need for utmost caution, even after vaccination.

Recall that Nigeria on March 5 commenced its COVID-19 vaccination as a medical doctor, Dr. Cyprian Ngong, of the National Hospital, Abuja, received a vaccination of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine.

Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, inaugurated the exercise on behalf of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd).

At the March 5 event, Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, described the moment as a “watershed.”

The World Health Organisation representative in Nigeria, Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo, however, warned that Nigerians must continue to contain the spread of COVID-19 infection despite the arrival of vaccines.

According to the WHO representative, while vaccination is crucial to containing the viral pandemic, it could still take more than one year before the vaccination programme can provide the needed protection for the majority of citizens.

This is in tandem with the submission of Executive Director of the International Vaccine Access Centre at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, William Moss, who noted that, “What all the vaccines have been is very highly protective against severe disease, hospitalisation, and death;” adding, “That is the most important success story of COVID-19 vaccines and will help bring this brutal pandemic under control.”

Meanwhile, as part of its recommendations, the CDC said that, in public, vaccinated people should continue to wear masks, avoid large gatherings and stay apart from others.

Guidance on other activities for vaccinated people remains cautious, though, as the CDC still discourages unnecessary travel, and hasn’t yet made a recommendation about going to restaurants or other places..

The CDC expects to update the guidance to allow more activities as infections decline and vaccinations increase.

The WHO had warned that it is still unknown how long immunity lasts after COVID-19 vaccination, noting that those vaccinated must continue to adhere to preventive measures.

Speaking in a video posted on its Twitter handle on January 31, WHO’s Director of Immunisation, Vaccines and Biologicals, Dr. Katherine O’Brien, said that the global health agency was still researching how long immunity from vaccines lasts.

“We’re following people who have received vaccinations to find out whether or not their immune response is durable over time and the length of time for which they are protected against disease.

“So, we’re going to have to wait for time to pass to see just how long these vaccines last.

“The clinical trials demonstrated that these vaccines protect people against disease. What we don’t know yet from clinical trials is whether or not the vaccines also protect people infected from SARS COV2 virus and whether or not it protects against transmitting to somebody else.

“So, this is a really important part of our understanding of what these vaccines do. Do they really protect against getting infected and being able to transmit to somebody else, even if you are not having any symptoms?

“So, we really need to continue with precautions while we’re still learning about what the vaccines can do,” O’Brien said.

Again, Dr. Daniel DeSimone, writing via the online health platform Mayo Clinic, urged to keep in mind that if they’re fully vaccinated, the risk of getting COVID-19 might be low.

“But if you become infected, you might spread the disease to others, even if you don’t have signs or symptoms of COVID-19.

“This could be dangerous for people who are unvaccinated and at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19.

“People at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 include older adults and people with certain underlying conditions,” DeSimone added.

source: Punch