MACON, Ga. — In the coming weeks, thousands of Central Georgians will be going back to get their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, but does that mean you still need to follow pandemic precautions, like wearing a mask and social distancing?
13WMAZ spoke to Dr. Sandy Duke with Navicent Health and Cyndi Green, a physician assistant with Coliseum Northside Hospital to verify.
The simple answer is yes.
“Even if you have received the COVID-19 vaccine, you still need to wear your mask, mask up, social distance, wash your hands,” said Green.
On the CDC website, studies have shown the vaccine is not 100% effective.
"Just like with previous vaccines, such as the flu vaccine, you still can get COVID-19 like symptoms after having the vaccine, but they should be mild, not as severe," said Green.
Executive Vice President of Navicent Health, Dr. Sandy Duke, says it’s 95% effective.
“If you were to have everyone in the group that was vaccinated there is still that 5% chance that one of you could be sick and pass it around within the group, and then you could potentially spread it to others in the community who are vulnerable,” said Duke.
Duke says until we've reached herd immunity, we need to continue following COVID-19 safety guidelines.
“We need about 80% of the community to have antibodies, assumingly from the vaccine, to blunt and stop the spread of this pandemic."
At that point, we could say goodbye to masks and hello to everyone we haven't seen in about a year.
"We've accepted the governor's challenge to get shots in arms, and we're ready to go to get to that point where we can schedule that mask-burning party, we all want to have,” said Duke.
We can verify that yes, for now you still need to wear a mask and avoid close contact with others, even after getting the second dose.