After nearly a year of fear and uncertainty, Covid-19 vaccinations began on December 14th, 2020. The rollout plan was not without its hiccups—it may even have been dubbed a ‘dismal failure’ initially. But to date, nearly 25 million Americans have been vaccinated.
Perhaps you or your family members have been among those to already receive the vaccine. Which may mean you’re now wondering just how much you can loosen up the restrictions you’ve been living with thus far.
Starting With the Grandparents
Considering most state vaccination distribution plans have prioritized those 65 and older, it’s likely your parents and grandparents will be among the first in your family to get vaccinated. But does that mean you can throw caution to the wind and go back to visiting and hugging them as soon as they are?
“Now that our grandparents or loved ones are vaccinated, it can be tempting to want to return to normal,” Stanley Martin, MD, at Geisinger recently said. “However, we are still very much in a pandemic and many communities are still facing a high number of COVID cases.”
Because of this, he said that the best approach when visiting family members who don’t live in your home is going to be continuing to follow CDC guidelines and wearing a mask. At least for the time being.
Savita Ginde, MD, chief healthcare officer with Stride Community Health Center said that getting both doses of the vaccine should prepare a recipient’s body for fighting off the infection if exposed to Covid-19. But she added that it’s still not completely safe to visit until everyone involved in those visits is vaccinated.
“It’s important that each member of the family complete the vaccination series and, preferably, be at least 10 days past their second COVID vaccine,” she explained. This is because immunity is not immediately achieved, even after the second dose.
How Long Will We Have to Remain Cautious?
While everyone is hoping for a quick return to normal (and the chance to visit and hug their loved ones again), one or two family members being vaccinated isn’t going to be enough. Instead, the CDC wants us to approach herd immunity before families start loosening their restrictions.
“Herd immunity with mass vaccination is possible by the end of 2021 if more than 80 to 90 percent of the population is vaccinated,” said Nitin Desai, MD, private practitioner and chief medical officer of COVID Pre-Check. “If vaccination adoption is poor, COVID hotspots and clusters may continue to occur.” He explained.
This means that a return to normal is going to depend on as many people getting vaccinated as possible.
Until then? “New strains or mutations of Cove are also expected to occur,” Desai said. “We have to continue to focus on environmental measures and host immune system defense since a healthy individual is better equipped to fight Covid.”
Martin, who works as an infectious disease doctor, said he understands that people are impatient, but that current restrictions are going to need to continue for at least the next several months—even for individuals who are vaccinated themselves.
“We know people are ready to get back to their normal lives—so are we—but the reality is we’ll need to continue following these measures for a little while longer in order to slow the spread of the disease and keep people safe,” he explained.
What About the Kids?
As of right now, there are no approved Covid-19 vaccinations for children under the age of 16. And that may not change anytime soon.
“Clinical trials are ongoing, and a pediatric vaccine is not likely to be available before the end of 2021,” Desai explained. “Children have a different immune response to infections, and clinical trials are harder to conduct.”
Currently, Moderna’s vaccine is authorized for ages 18 and up, and the Pfizer vaccine was approved for use in patients ages 16 and up last month. While both companies have already started clinical trials in children as young as 12, Martin said it’s going to take time for that data to be compiled and for the FDA to authorize the vaccine for kids.
“We just don’t know enough to determine whether or not it’s safe yet,” he explained.
Once a vaccine for kids is approved, he said each state will still have a different timeline and process for vaccine rollout.
“Since children are considered at relatively low-risk for serious issues caused by the virus, they will likely be one of the last groups vaccinated,” Martin explained, adding that there may be some exceptions for children with underlying health issues or those who may be considered a priority due to other factors.
Unfortunately, children can still spread Covid as easily as adults. Which means parents will need to remain proactive in modeling and enforcing compliance with wearing a mask and hand washing.
Protecting your community is going to depend on how well you, as parents, continue to help your kids maintain current restrictions.
“Once parents are vaccinated, children will need to be protected from infecting each other, or infecting unvaccinated persons, or getting infected from unvaccinated persons,” Desai explained.
In other words: now is not the time to loosen up on those Covid-19 safety guidelines.
Getting Everyone Vaccinated
But that time will eventually come.
“Assuming everyone in the household is vaccinated, restrictions within the same household could be lifted if everyone is immune from a vaccine and considered noninfectious,” Desai said, though he pointed out that vaccinated individuals will still carry a 5 percent risk of infection.
“Also, current information about COVID vaccinated persons not being infectious is very limited,” he explained. While this knowledge is still evolving, he said even vaccinated individuals need to remain cautious around non-vaccinated individuals, or else they could unknowingly spread the disease themselves.
For all these reasons and more, Martin said it’s hard to calculate a specific time frame for when a return to normal can begin.
“It’s not like a switch that we can immediately turn on or off,” he explained. “The process of loosening restrictions will be more like a slow trickle. For example, maybe we’re able to fully return to in-person learning at schools, but will still take steps to wear masks and stay socially distanced where possible.”
The true return to normal, he said, won’t begin until herd immunity is achieved.
“Experts still aren’t sure the number that it will take to get there, since it’s different for every disease, but it’s the only way to ensure that we can fully return to normal.”
In the meantime, Ginde said we wear masks for two reasons: to protect ourselves, and to protect others.
“One of the most important concepts that needs to be understood right now is that there is no single silver bullet that is going to move us out of the pandemic and past masks and distancing and hand-washing,” she explained. “It is actually the combination of these continued efforts (masks, distancing, handwashing and vaccination) that together will move us to the other side of all this: we continue masking and distancing and handwashing until a majority of the population has completed their vaccination series.”
She wanted to remind readers that as frustrating as this may seem, having multiple vaccinations available already for Covid-19 is truly a reflection of the marvel of modern medicine.
“Patience and calm continue to be important,” she said, explaining that everyone will be able to receive a vaccination in time.
Until then? She said, “We must continue to be in this together, in partnership and in health with one another.”
That means washing our hands, wearing our masks, and maintaining distance; even for those of us lucky enough to have been vaccinated already.
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