Got the vaccine? Experts say you can relax about your Covid-19 risk now. Really.

[babylonsister]

Got the vaccine? Experts say you can relax about your Covid-19 risk now. Really.
I asked health experts about their post-vaccination lives. Most no longer worry about their own risk of Covid-19.
By German [e-mail]@vox.com May 11, 2021, 8:00am EDT


White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said he will not go into restaurants or movie theaters, even though he’s vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says vaccinated people should continue masking up indoors and avoiding large gatherings. News outlets have reported on “breakthrough infections” of Covid-19 among the fully vaccinated.

All of this can make it seem like getting vaccinated may not be enough to liberate people from the fear of getting sick and the precautions they’ve taken to avoid the coronavirus in the past year. So I posed a question to experts I’ve talked to throughout the pandemic about Covid-related precautions: How worried are you about your personal safety after getting vaccinated?

They were nearly unanimous in their response: They’re no longer worried much, if at all, about their personal risk of getting Covid-19. Several spoke of going into restaurants and movie theaters now that they’re vaccinated, socializing with friends and family, and having older relatives visit for extended periods.

“I’m not particularly worried about getting ill myself,” Tara Smith, an epidemiologist at Kent State University, told me. “I know that if I do somehow end up infected, my chances of developing serious symptoms are low.”

Instead, experts said they mostly remain cautious to protect others who aren’t yet vaccinated. The vaccines are extremely effective — dramatically cutting the risk of any symptoms, and driving the risk of hospitalization and death to nearly zero. There’s some evidence that these vaccines also reduce the risk of transmission, but we’re still learning how much they prevent someone who is vaccinated from infecting another person. When experts are still taking precautions, it’s this concern for others that primarily drives them.

But, over time, they see even those concerns for others becoming less necessary, too.

more...

https://www.vox.com/22423098/covid-19-vaccine-coronavirus-protection-herd-immunity

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Thanks for this very hopeful news, my dear babylonsister! ♥

[babylonsister]

4. You're very welcome! I thought this was good, too. I

will still be masking up but with a bit less anxiety.

[abqtommy]

2. My son and I are fully covid vaxxed and planning to venture out while still using the proven

masking/distancing/sanitizing procedures. Because covid is not the last or final pandemic.

[JohnSJ]

3. Until enough people are fully vaccinated, WORLDWIDE, the risk of variants remains

[global1]

5. We've Been Fooled Before And Let Our Guard Down Only To Experience Surges......

I will feel better about 2 weeks after Memorial Day. If we don't experience any surges - I'll start being more relaxed. I am vaccinated. I'll still mask up indoors. I'll still social distance. I'll be cautious - but not careless.

[hunter]

6. I haven't caught *ANY* virus since for more than a year. No colds, not anything.

I like it. I'm not going to relax some of my pandemic habits.

I've always been a bit wary of crowds anyways.

[BannonsLiver]

7. The panel of DU epidemiologists apparently disagrees.