Mainers urged vigilance until the vaccine arrived and for a long time thereafter.

The state’s top infectious disease experts said Wednesday that the need to wear masks and stay socially distant will continue even after the first delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine arrives in Maine shortly next week.

Dr. Nirab Shah, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Maine, said vaccination would be more limited if Maine could not contain the dramatic surge in incidents around Maine. .. And even the vaccinated person may still have enough virus to spread it to others, he said.

“I think we all want the arrival of the vaccine to end the pandemic soon. I’m sorry, it doesn’t happen. The end of the pandemic isn’t like it’s switched off. No, “Shah said Wednesday. “The measures we’re all used to, such as face masks and physical distances, may not disappear for some time.”

Some health experts say that wearing a mask will remain a part of life until 2021, even after vaccination has been gradually rolled out to the general public.

Warnings are issued when Maine and other states are preparing to receive their first vaccination. The US Food and Drug Administration will grant an emergency license to the vaccine developed by Pfizer on Thursday. If approved, millions of doses could be distributed nationwide within days.

Maine expects to receive 12,675 doses on its first delivery and equivalent deliveries in each of the next two weeks. According to the state, the first dose is given to front-line healthcare professionals and residents of the most endangered care facilities.

The second vaccine developed by Moderna will be approved later this month, and Maine will receive 34,900 doses in the first distribution round.

The UK has begun vaccination of its citizens with the Pfizer vaccine this week. This is the first small step in a global effort to vaccinate enough people to delay the spread of the disease and then stop it.

The Pfizer vaccine is believed to be 95% effective in preventing recipients from getting sick with COVID-19. The vaccine is given twice at 21-day intervals, but the first dose alone significantly reduces the risk of getting sick within about 10 days of injection.

However, it is not yet clear whether either the Pfizer vaccine or the Moderna vaccine will prevent recipients from becoming asymptomatic carriers or silent spreaders.

This is because the vaccine is injected into the body and acts to create an immune response that fights the types of lung infections that can lead to serious and life-threatening illnesses. Unlike vaccines given as nasal drops, injected vaccines may not produce enough antibodies to prevent the virus from surviving in the human nose. This means that vaccinated people can still be asymptomatic carriers.

While further research is underway, public health experts have said that vaccinated people should continue to wear masks.

“Many vaccines don’t necessarily prevent the virus from lurking. They only prevent you from getting sick from it,” Shah said Wednesday. “That’s one of the reasons why the arrival of vaccines may not mean the end of a pandemic.”

The first vaccine may arrive next week, but Maine may not receive enough doses to reach the general public for many more months.

Healthy mainrs without underlying health conditions at high risk, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity, may not be vaccinated until after the summer of 2021, Shah said.

Dr. James Jarvis, senior physician executive at Northern Light Main Health, said Mainner needs to plan to wear a mask and stay socially distant from 2021 to perhaps 2022, even after the vaccination program goes well. Said there is. He said the population has been vaccinated and the virus shows signs that it is being controlled.

On Wednesday, Shah said the vaccine would slow down the rate of infection over time, as it would apply breaks to speed-violating freight trains. How quickly it occurs depends on whether the virus continues to spread as quickly as it does today. Hundreds of cases are reported daily in Maine, ten times more than in the summer.

“The COVID-19 vaccine works best when introduced into a community where the virus is controlled,” Shah said. “If today’s virus is well controlled, we can be more successful with vaccines tomorrow, next week, and next month.”

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