After getting the COVID-19 vaccine, some people are asking whether they have to wear a mask.
Dr. Mohammed Reza, an infectious diseases specialist in Jacksonville, said you should be wearing a mask with or without the vaccine.
He said there’s concern about people having an asymptomatic infection even with the vaccine -- which means they could be carrying the virus and spreading it to others.
As far as the studies Pfizer and Moderna are conducting when it comes to patients who are symptomatic, Reza said there’s no data on that yet. The studies they did for the vaccine were for symptomatic illnesses and severe disease.
“The vaccine is not 100%. It’s very effective, but it’s not 100%,” Reza said. “So there is that 5% chance that you still could have pretty bad outcomes. The studies have shown that people don’t have severe COVID-19 after they received this vaccine, but you don’t want to catch this virus no matter what if you can prevent it, and wearing the mask does prevent that.”
Reza got the vaccine on Thursday.
When asked whether he was nervous, he said no, that he was excited and felt like he got the golden ticket to protect himself and his family.
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was approved by Food and Drug Administration for emergency use last week.
A government advisory panel endorsed Moderna’s vaccine on Thursday, paving the way for the shot to be added to the U.S. vaccination campaign. The FDA is expected to follow the recommendation.