RWHC News & Updates

Posters for public use from Vaccinate Your Family and the Wisconsin Immunization Neighborhood are available at: https://bit.ly/3iIsYSU

“Five Reasons to Wear a Mask Even After You’re Vaccinated”–from Liz Szabo at KHN (Kaiser Health News)

1. No vaccine is 100% effective–Large clinical trials found that two doses of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines prevented 95% of illnesses caused by the coronavirus. While those results are impressive, 1 in 20 people are left unprotected.
2. Vaccines don’t provide immediate protection– No vaccine is effective right away. It takes about two weeks for the immune system to make the antibodies that block viral infections.
3. Covid vaccines may not prevent you from spreading the virus–While covid vaccines clearly prevent illness, researchers need more time to figure out whether they prevent transmission.
4. Masks protect people with compromised immune systems–People with cancer are at particular risk from covid. Studies show they’re more likely  than others to become infected and die from the virus, but may not be protected by vaccines, said Dr. Gary Lyman, a professor at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
5. Masks protect against any strain of the coronavirus, in spite of genetic mutations–Global health leaders are extremely concerned about new genetic variants of the coronavirus, which appear to be at least 50% more contagious than the original.

The complete article is at: https://bit.ly/39XjTBO