Vaccines do not prevent viruses
‘It only protects you from getting severely ill, dying’
There have been reports that health workers who received the Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccine have tested positive for Covid-19. This is the second time for some.
But in commemorating World Vaccine Week, doctors Sipho Dlamini and Ashley Wewege agreed during a virtual briefing this week that vaccines don’t mean that you will never contract a virus.
It simply means that it protects you from getting severely ill, suffering adverse effects, ending up in the ICU and dying.
Dlamini is a professor at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town and specialises in infectious diseases and HIV medicine. He said as a result of vaccines, we have shifted our life expectancy from 35 in 1700 to 55 in 1900 and are expected to live well into the hundreds in a few years’ time.
“Vaccines eradicated smallpox. Measles, tetanus, rubella are no longer deadly and dreaded because vaccines were developed for this and produced immunity,” said Dlamini.
He said it was very rare, and only in specific cases that someone could become severely ill, noting that if you are vaccinated against Covid-9 and if you test within 28 days, you will get a positive result.
Dlamini explained that getting a chicken pox vaccine doesn’t mean you will never get the virus, it just means you likely won’t die from it. The same with other deadly viruses.
Wewege, a specialist in paediatrics, said although Covid-19 demands humans to be apart, the theme of world vaccination week this year focused on vaccines bringing us closer together.
He said it was devastating that more than 20-million children worldwide are not being vaccinated and urged governments and parents to make sure that the children get vaccinated.
He added though that through Covid-19, South Africa had done well in October last year in having a high number of baby vaccinations. “Hospitals and clinics are safe places to go to, even in a time of Covid-19,” he said.
Wewege added that as adults who did not get any vaccines, they can and should still be vaccinated against polio, chicken pox, measles, hepatitis, hepatitis B, pneumococcal, pertussis and meningococcal diseases. He said even the influenza vaccine once a year should be considered important.
Wewege is also concerned that Covid-19 vaccines are not available for children yet, as he said children make up a huge part of the community in order to gain herd immunity. “India was doing well not too long ago, but people became too complacent and started having big festivals and religious gatherings, now many people are dying. It’s a crisis. I see the same in Cape Town – how many people are becoming complacent and fear if we don’t follow safety protocol, we will be in the same situation,” said Wewege.
Hospitals and clinics are safe places to go to, even in a time of Covid-19