Once you and your friends are vaccinated, can you quit social distancing?

[babylonsister]

Once you and your friends are vaccinated, can you quit social distancing?
Expect life to return to normal in 3 stages — not all at once.
By Sigal Samuel Updated Jan 12, 2021, 2:05pm EST


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The best way to set realistic expectations around what life will look like in 2021 is to think of it in three stages. Stage 1 is what you can safely do once you and your close friends or family are vaccinated. Stage 2 is what you can safely do once your city or state has reached herd immunity, where enough people are protected against infection that the virus can’t easily spark new outbreaks. Stage 3 is what you can do once herd immunity is reached internationally. (Note that there’s a good chance we won’t reach that last stage in 2021.)

A lot will depend on the answer to a crucial open question: Are the vaccines only good at preventing symptomatic disease, or are they also good at preventing infection and transmission?

“One can imagine a scenario where you are vaccinated and you develop a protective immune response. You will not get sick, you will not die, but the virus will still be able to grow in your nose and transmit to other people,” said Barry Bloom, a professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard.

Bloom and other experts are optimistic that the vaccines help reduce infection and transmission, but nobody knows by how much. “We just need more data on transmission,” he said. “Hopefully it will come out of the trials in a couple of months.”

In the meantime, even vaccinated people have to assume they can still become infected and pass along the virus. That means they need to keep wearing masks and social distancing whenever they’re around unvaccinated people.

more...

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22219362/end-of-covid-19-pandemic-social-distancing-masking

[octoberlib]

1. Good question.

[TeamPooka]

2. The vaccines are only 85-95 % effective. Until everyone is vaxed take precautions and follow guideli

[roamer65]

3. U still hafta worry about the unvaccinated.

We can still be asymptomatic carriers.

[Volaris]

5. The fuckheads who dont want it on the grounds that herd immunity will protect them,

Can all kiss my dick.
Herd Immunity is the equalivant of biologic socialism...your inaction is defended by the pro-action of everyone else. YOU are kept safe by the actions of the rest of US.

'Party of Personal Responsiblity' my ass. NEVER come to me with that argument ever again, and fuck off. Your anti-vaxxer, herd immunity self should be held down to the flat earth and a needle shoved into your ass.
Complain, I dare you.

[Midnightwalk]

4. I plan on still wearing masks in public and not going to bars/restaurants

In 2022 when I finally can get vaccinated

Mostly to not encourage unvaccinated idiots from thinking going maskless is ok.

We need to get past the pandemic as soon as we can for several reasons including the human cost and economic recovery.

[abqtommy]

6. We've already seen many deaths among people who wanted an immediate return to "normal" even

before vaccines were available. Deaths will continue even among vaccinated people if they disregard
the basic common-sense protections many of us have used so far.