Older people should not kiss their grandchildren, even if they have received the second dose of coronavirus vaccine, an expert said today.
Professor Anthony Harnden, vice-chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunization (JCVI), said he may not be sure to break the rules of social distancing even after taking two doses.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, Professor Harnden was asked by a listener if he was allowed to kiss his school-age grandchildren, with the JCVI vice-president answering “no”.
“You have to be very careful and remember that even after the second dose of the vaccine it is not necessarily 100% effective,” he said.
“At this point, we have to be careful and follow the rules and I don’t think kissing grandchildren is allowed.”
Professor Harnden added that although the vaccine provides protection against severe diseases, how much protection it generally provides remains unknown.
Well, it will give you very good protection against severe illness and hospitalization, but we still don’t know how much protection it will offer against asymptomatic infections, he said.
Research conducted by Public Health Scotland found that four weeks after the first dose, hospitalizations were reduced by 94% for AstraZeneca.
Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have been shown to be 95% and 94.5% effective, respectively.
Government advisers said the UK vaccination program should continue to be based on age, and 40-year-olds would be given a jab in a few weeks.
Professor Harnden’s comments come when Sage scientist Susan Michie warned that people could comply with less strict blocking restrictions after being vaccinated for coronavirus.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today program: “The concern is that as the vaccination program unfolds and more and more people are vaccinating themselves and seeing other people in their community getting vaccinated, people may be on guard. ”.
She said the evidence came from Lyme disease and flu vaccines in which vaccinated people were less likely to engage in preventive behaviors.
In the December national polls, about 29% of people said they would follow the rules less strictly after vaccination and 11% said they would not follow the rules.