All those who've been eagerly awaiting the vaccine just to be able to switch back to the pre-COVID era, are in for a little disappointment.
America's top infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci has warned, "it's not going to be a light switch" back to what life was like before the pandemic.
He strongly advocates social distancing and people wear masks even after getting the vaccine. On being asked during a news television show whether could people could go back to their normal lives after getting the vaccine, he remarked, "I would recommend that that is not the case. I would recommend you have an added area of protection. Obviously, with a 90-plus per cent effective vaccine, you could feel more confident."
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also said that vaccine was an added layer of protection, it wasn't a guarantee against not getting the virus in future. "I would recommend to people to not abandon all public health measures just because you have been vaccinated, because even though, for the general population, it might be 90 to 95 per cent effective, you don't necessarily know, for you, how effective it is," he added.
Counting the last days of Corona?
It was only last week Dr Fauci commented about how the days of the pandemic were now numbered, even though Corona is likely to be here forever. "Thanks to Coronavirus vaccines, Covid won't be a pandemic for a lot longer," his comments came after American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech announced that their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective.
His comments are on consonance with what he said last week, "It's not going to be a pandemic for a lot longer, because I believe the vaccines are going to turn that around. Vaccines will help us. What we've got to do is just hang on and continue to double down on the public health measures," he said during the event Chatham House.
Dr Fauci at the same time said that Covid-19 could circulate for years and people needed to back up vaccine shots with most inexpensive and yet effective means of battling the virus –wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining social distancing.
Takeaways from the pandemic galore
It's a lesson that even the memes in the wake of Covid-19 taught us during the early days of lockdown itself, starting with handwash, mouthwash, social distancing, masks and of course regular disinfecting of frequent touch points, elevator buttons, door knobs, desk spaces.
