It seems as if the Biden administration intends to rely on vaccines alone to fight the COVID-19 virus.
The official advice is that once you get vaccinated, it’s safe to do anything you want, including spending time unmasked in poorly-ventilated indoor spaces.
That’s wrong. Even if you’re vaccinated, you can be infected and you can infect others. Masking, ventilation and other safety measures are still needed.
It’s true that availability of vaccines has dramatically reduced the death rate from COVID. The chart above, showing waves of COVID infection before and after vaccines were available, indicates this.
Vaccination, however, does not confer 100 percent immunity. The vaccines stimulate the immune system, so that, if you are infected, you are unlikely to experience symptoms of the disease and even less likely to be hospitalized.
But they often fail to kill the virus. You can be vaccinated and symptom-free and still be a spreader of the disease.
I’m in favor of vaccination. I got two shots of the Moderna vaccine as soon as I could, one in March and one in April. I don’t take that as guaranteeing perfect safety.
It’s going to be a while before I eat a restaurant meal indoors or watch a movie in a theater. I may never take an airplane trip again. I intend to wear a mask any time I am indoors with people I don’t know.
That’s not because I like masks. I get short of breath when I wear one for a long time. Everybody looks like they’re either terrorists, robbers or assisting in surgery. But I can put up with this minor annoyance in order to reduce my own risk and the risk I create for others.
I understand that not everybody is willing to live as I do, or in a position to do so. I am 84 years old, retired, unmarried, an introvert and a recluse.
I don’t have to venture out into the world to earn my daily bread, and my temperament makes it easier for me than for most people to do without hugs and kisses.