Do people who get the COVID-19 vaccine still need to wear a mask? – SF Gate

The short answer is yes, you will still need to wear a mask even if you get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Face coverings will be necessary for some time even after you get inoculated because while the scientific research is pretty solid that the vaccine protects you from the virus, it's not entirely clear whether it stops you from spreading the virus to others, health officials say. It's not known whether the virus could still set up shop in your nose and lead you to pass droplets onto others, even though you might not be "sick."

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine this week and a second inoculation from Moderna could follow next week.

These vaccines were developed at record speeds with massive teams of scientists from across the world, and the trials only tracked how many vaccinated people became sick with COVID-19, said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at UCSF. They didn't look at whether some inoculated people could get infected without developing symptoms and then pass the virus onto others.

"Because of the expediency, they werent designed to rule out asymptomatic infection," Gandhi said.

Gandhi expects the need for masks won't go away until we reach population immunity, or herd immunity, the point when the spread of disease from person to person becomes so low as to be unlikely. As a result, the whole community becomes protected, not only those who are immune. Experts estimate population immunity will be reached when 70% of the population is protected from the virus.

Moncef Slaoui, head of the U.S. vaccine development effort, has estimated the country could reach herd immunity as early as May, based on the effectiveness of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. That's assuming there are no problems meeting manufacturers' supply estimates, and enough people step forward to be vaccinated.

Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at UCSF, has followed the vaccine development effort closely and has a less optimistic timeline, putting the country at this point in September.

The mask recommendation is the same for those who tested positive and recovered from the infection. While preliminary research shows the risk of reinfection is extremely low, this virus is still new, and researchers still don't entirely understand how immunity works for it.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Do people who get the COVID-19 vaccine still need to wear a mask? - SF Gate