Editor,
San Mateo Medical Center posted the following in its COVID-19-vaccine website. It can cause unintended consequences. Under “What to do now,: it says: “If you are age 75 or older, we will call you when an appointment is available. All other patients can visit this page for updates and continue to stay safe by washing your hands frequently, wearing a mask, staying 6 feet away from others, and avoiding gatherings. ”
This can lead to the wrong impression that people vaccinated may not have to wear a mask or social distancing. That would be a terrible mistake. The vaccines are effective in preventing an infected person from becoming sick with symptoms, which is very different from preventing a person from being infected. A vaccinated person can still get infected, carry and spread viruses asymptomatically. Due to lack of warning signs to both the virus carrier and the people around, recent research has found asymptomatic transmission is at least half of all the transmissions cases.
It is even more prudent for people who have received the vaccine to continue face masking and social distancing until the epidemic stops. I suggest the SMMC explicitly emphasize this important point, which not many in the public seem to be aware.
Chih-Pei Chang
San Mateo
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(1) comment
If that’s the case, you’d better prepare to wear masks for life, since a percentage of Americans currently are not taking and may never take the vaccine, ensuring the COVID cooties remain viable. And if you succeed at vaccinating all 330+ million people in America, don’t forget to restrict all traveling, forever, since other nations may not be vaccinated anytime soon. After all, we're at what, 7 billion people?
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.