Fully vaccinated less likely to pass COVID-19 to others November 1, 2021 - Lisa Coon
This article was updated January 17, 2022, to reflect new information from the CDC.
One question many people who are vaccinated for COVID-19 have is whether they can transmit the virus to someone who isn’t vaccinated.
For this to happen, it would mean the vaccinated person was asymptomatic – being infected with the virus without having symptoms.
While the COVID-19 vaccines have provided an opportunity to slow the spread of the virus, scientists continue studying how much the vaccines can prevent transmission from occurring.
Two women touching elbows with masks
The good news is that data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows while COVID-19 infections do occur in fully vaccinated people, these instances appear to be exceptionally rare.
“We do not have conclusive proof. But more and more studies and real-world evidence points to fully vaccinated people, who are not immunocompromised, are less likely to transmit the virus if they become infected,” said Brian Laird, PharmD, a manager in Pharmacy Operations at OSF HealthCare. How is that possible?
“The reason why is that vaccinated people have a lower viral load if they get infected,” Brian said.
Viral load means the amount of virus an infected person produces. If the viral load is significantly smaller because someone is vaccinated, that lessens the risk of transmitting the virus to others through the transmission of respiratory droplets.
So should vaccinated people be concerned about passing the virus to a friend or family member who is not vaccinated?
“Very few things in medicine have a zero percent chance of happening. But if the person is vaccinated and not immunocompromised for any reasons, there is less of a reason to be concerned about transmitting the virus if they become infected,” Brian said.
People who are immunocompromised and are vaccinated still are at risk of severe illness or hospitalization due to COVID-19 and should continue to wear a mask and practice other precautions.
Everything is so up in the air now anything could happen, we could get a new variant, I would vote for keeping all options open at the moment, this virus has not gone away .This just my opinion, I respect your opinions give me the same courtesy,
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