8 hot questions about vaccination against coronavirus

Sep­tem­ber 22, 2021, 16:00

Since the begin­ning of vac­ci­na­tion in Ukraine, a lot of unre­li­able infor­ma­tion has appeared regard­ing the effect of vac­ci­na­tion against COVID-19. We decid­ed to find answers from an expert. Yuriy Leonov, a geneti­cist at the depart­ment of mol­e­c­u­lar bio­log­i­cal research at the EUROLAB clin­ic, answered 8 press­ing ques­tions about vac­ci­na­tion.

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Vac­ci­nat­ed peo­ple and those who plan to get vac­ci­nat­ed are con­cerned about many ques­tions. How vac­ci­na­tion works, whether it is nec­es­sary to con­tin­ue to wear a pro­tec­tive mask, whether it is pos­si­ble to have only one vac­ci­na­tion, etc. — we have col­lect­ed all the answers in the mate­r­i­al.

1. Can I get COVID-19 after vaccination?

Yes, there is a pos­si­bil­i­ty that a per­son can get sick after two dos­es of the vac­cine. These are fea­tures of the immu­ni­ty of each indi­vid­ual per­son. But! In 90% of cas­es, the dis­ease will be mild or asymp­to­matic. Vac­cines pro­vide 98% pro­tec­tion against severe dis­ease.

2. Will I be contagious to others after being vaccinated against COVID-19?

No. A per­son does not release the virus after vac­ci­na­tion! It is not con­ta­gious!

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3. Is it necessary to wear a mask and follow anti-epidemic measures?

Yes, it is worth wear­ing a mask and fol­low­ing anti-epi­dem­ic mea­sures. First, as men­tioned ear­li­er, there is a pos­si­bil­i­ty that a per­son may get sick. She will have an asymp­to­matic course, but at the same time she can infect oth­ers. Sec­ond­ly, we are now enter­ing the clas­sic epi­dem­ic peri­od of SARS-ARS. Vac­ci­na­tion against the coro­n­avirus does not pro­tect against the flu and oth­er colds. There­fore, the mask and anti-epi­dem­ic mea­sures will con­tribute to the fact that we will be bet­ter pro­tect­ed from these dis­eases.

4. What will happen if I do not receive the second dose of the vaccine against COVID-19?

The formed immu­ni­ty will be much weak­er. And the risks we talked about above will increase by 2–2.5 times.

5. If I received two doses of the vaccine, am I immediately protected from the coronavirus?

No. The final immune response will be formed approx­i­mate­ly 14–17 days after the sec­ond dose of the vac­cine.

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6. Is it necessary to do an analysis for antibodies to coronavirus after vaccination?

Analy­sis for anti­bod­ies after vac­ci­na­tion should be done by those peo­ple who have prob­lems with immu­ni­ty (chron­ic dis­eases, autoim­mune dis­eases, etc.). It is bet­ter to do it on the 20th day after the sec­ond dose.

7. Can the vaccine harm my health?

Seri­ous side effects from vac­ci­na­tion are very rare. Less than 0.1%. But if you have health prob­lems, such as chron­ic dis­eases, oncol­o­gy, sys­temic dis­eases, you must con­sult a doc­tor and be under super­vi­sion for a day or two after vac­ci­na­tion.

8. How long will the vaccine work? Will revaccination be necessary?

Accord­ing to the lat­est data, the pro­tec­tion pro­vid­ed by vac­cines lasts at least 6 months. Then its effec­tive­ness decreas­es. Although, accord­ing to some authors, if a per­son got sick and then got vac­ci­nat­ed, then the pro­tec­tion is more sta­ble and long-last­ing. As for revac­ci­na­tion, there is no con­sen­sus today. But the major­i­ty of researchers are inclined to the fact that the sit­u­a­tion will be the same as with the flu — vac­ci­na­tion once a year before the epi­dem­ic sea­son.

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