There are now over one hundred million confirmed cases of coronvirus infection around the world with an increasing rate of hospitalizations and deaths. Although there coronavirus outbreaks are still common in different countries, the distribution of vaccinations is expected to bring down the transmission levels of the infection soon.
Since the December of the past year, nearly all countries including the United States have started coronavirus vaccine roullout. Though the speed of distribution has been subject to a lot of criticism, it has improved in two months and may increase further in the coming days.
During this period, the number of people willing to get the vaccine has also gone up with the majority fearing the virus less than before.
According to the findings of a new congressional survey, one in four Americans thinks they can die from contracting and developing the infection. Last year, the figures were higher with one in three Americans thinking they will die due to the virus.
All of these changes are positive and can help in reducing the multiple difficulties in coronavirus control and vaccine distribution such as wider accpetance or decrease in vaccine hesistancy among the local masses.
However, the progress made in the past three months may be lost as new variants of the virus have been detected in different parts of the world. New reports on the strains has shown that they spread faster and may increase coronavirus hospitalization rate.
As a result, there is a concern regarding outbreaks of the new strains and overflow of coronavirus patients in hospitals once again. Even with vaccines, the risk for a another wave is still very high.
So, what is the solution? According to health experts including Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the chief medical advisor for coronavirus pandemic, the impact of the virus is likely to stay until the end of summer.
In addition, he also added that the life would also not return to normal for a very long time. Until then, it is important for people to take coronavirus preventive measures even if they have been vaccinated.
Also Read: Research Shows Coronavirus Can Survive For Longer than 72 HoursÂ
Currently, there is a rising number of people who are no longer following even the most basic guidelines for coronavirus control such as maintaining distance or wearing a mask in public spaces.
The two main reasons for this are pandemic fatigue and a false sense of security due to the development and distribution of vaccines. For the former, the only solution is to think to about safety of others and the wider community while being patient.
For the latter, experts usually ask people to review the data on vaccines and re-read guidelines thoroughly. Although the vaccinations for coronavirus were seen to be highly effective in trials, it does not mean they can start working instantly.
In fact, all vaccinations take a specific period ranging from four to six weeks to be effective. Therefore, every person should follow guidelines even after receving both doses of the vaccine.
Secondly, there is limited data on transmission in vaccinated people. So, until it is confirmed that vaccinated people do not spread the virus, wearing a mask and taking all other measures is fundamental.
