![Covid-19: Does vaccination prevent contagion?](https://img.passeportsante.net/1000x526/2020-12-02/i97928-.jpeg)
While the High Authority for Health gave its recommendations concerning the vaccination campaign in the country, it indicated that the vaccine would be effective against severe forms of Covid-19. Still lacking in data, it nevertheless expresses doubts about the contagion of a patient after a vaccination.
Vaccinated but contagious?
The Haute Autorité de santé is anxious to take into account the risks of contagion and wishes that ” studies establish evidence that vaccines may be effective in transmitting the virus In order to launch the vaccination campaign in complete safety.
Prof. Daniel Floret, vice-president of the technical committee on vaccinations, indicated that “ the vaccine stops the disease in the lungs but not necessarily the entry of the virus into the body, that is the problem. In order for it to prevent transmission, it must block the penetration of the virus into these airways. He therefore believes that a patient, having some symptoms without serious form, could transmit the virus while being immune. According to Bruno Pitard, research director at CNRS, the effectiveness of the vaccine will determine the level of contagion: “ To give you a picture, if you have 100 virus particles and it blocks 80 of them, 20 are left, so you may have some symptoms. If you go to the movies and you cough next to a person without a mask, it is possible to infect them. “.
An “unlikely” fact thanks to a “mass vaccination”
However, Jean-Michel Pawlotsky, virologist at the Henri-Mondor CHU in Val-de-Marne, is not of the same opinion: ” Sure, in theory it’s possible, the vaccine isn’t Darth Vader’s armor, but in practice it’s unlikely. “. He thinks that the human body, immune, will recognize and quickly fight Covid-19, leaving little chance for those around them to be infected: ” At first, the virus may infect cells a bit before the antibodies block it, but the immune response kicks in very quickly. What is important is the collective dimension. The number of people immunized will be so large, that the risks of transmitting the Covid will be lower and lower over time, for this, a mass vaccination is needed. “.