New Delhi, Jan 24: As vaccination drive across the globe has started to gather pace and India has administered the first dose of the vaccine to over 1 million people in six days, experts have asked the people to follow COVID-19 rules in letter and spirit.
The cautionary statements have been made due to the fact that almost all vaccines that are being administered require at least two doses for the immunity to kick in. The interval between the jabs varies between 12 to 28 days.
Even after getting the second dose, the effectiveness of the vaccine would begin to show only after 14 days.
“Hence it is imperative to maintain COVID-19 appropriate behaviour even after receiving the coronavirus vaccine,” health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said.
One of England’s leading medical officers has also urged people to follow the strict lockdown rules because any vaccine-related immunity from Covid-19 takes at least three weeks to kick in.
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, also warned that there is no clear evidence yet to show that vaccinated people cannot transmit the deadly virus on to others.
“Regardless of whether someone has had their vaccination or not, it is vital that everyone follows the national restrictions and public health advice, as protection takes up to three weeks to kick in and we don’t yet know the impact of vaccines on transmission,” said Van-Tam.
“The vaccine is rightly something to celebrate – let’s stay patient, stay at home and support the NHS as it continues to roll out the vaccine,” he added.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock backed the statement and asked people to not drop their guards against the virus. “While the vaccine can prevent severe disease, we do not know if it stops you from passing on the virus to others, and it takes time to develop immunity after a jab, so for now everyone must continue to stay at home to help bring down infections and protect the NHS,” he said.
The warnings come even as Britain’s Covid-19 vaccination push gathered pace on Saturday, with 5.9 million people now having had the first dose.
Currently, the UK government is leaving a gap of 12 weeks between the first and the second dose allowing Britain’s vaccine programme to proceed quickly. This is against the advisory of the vaccine Pfizer and BioNTech.
The British government is looking to stretch out the gap between first and second shots as it seeks to ensure as many people as possible can be given some protection from an initial vaccine dose.
Closer at home, India has administered the first dose of the vaccine to over 1 million people in six days. The number of beneficiaries who have received the anti-coronavirus shots is inching close to 16 lakh.
This count is higher than that of countries like the US and the UK, the Union Health Ministry said.
