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Sergeant Jennifer Callender (L) of the Illinois Air National Guard administers a Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to Virginia Persha at a vaccination center established at the Triton College in River Grove, Illinois, on February 3, 2021.
Kamil Krzaczynski | AFP | Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n
The deployment of life-saving\u00a0coronavirus<\/a>\u00a0vaccines brings hope that life will soon return to a time before the pandemic where we weren\u2019t advised to wear a mask nearly everywhere we go.<\/p>\n But even if you\u2019re one of the lucky few to have gotten a Covid-19 shot, it will be important to continue wearing a face covering until researchers can determine whether the vaccines prevent people from spreading the virus to others who aren\u2019t vaccinated, White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cCurrently, we do not have enough data to be able to say with confidence that the vaccines can prevent transmission,\u201d Fauci said in a tweet during an online Q&A session. \u201cSo even if vaccinated, you may still be able to spread the virus to vulnerable people.\u201d<\/p>\n What the vaccines\u2019 clinical trials have shown, however, is that the drugs are highly effective at preventing symptomatic infections in people who have been inoculated. Both Pfizer<\/a>–BioNTech<\/a>\u2019s and\u00a0Moderna<\/a>\u2019s vaccines, the only two in the U.S. that have received emergency authorization so far, have proven to be roughly 95% effective at preventing symptomatic infection in people given two doses spread out weeks apart.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Johnson & Johnson\u2019s vaccine, a one-dose jab that has yet to be granted the same authorization from the federal government, reported on Friday that\u00a0its vaccine was 66% effective<\/a>\u00a0overall in protecting against\u00a0Covid-19 in clinical trials. While lower than the others, it\u2019s still above the threshold the federal government set \u2014 roughly 50% \u2014 to be granted emergency authorization.<\/p>\n On top of that, the company\u2019s drug was 85% effective\u00a0in preventing people from becoming severely ill<\/a>\u00a0with Covid-19 four weeks after their shot. The vaccine from J&J could become available in March if it clears the U.S. Food and Drug Administration\u2019s standards for emergency use, Fauci said.<\/p>\n Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also urged people to accept whichever vaccine available to them once it\u2019s their turn.<\/p>\n