Professor Anthony Harnden, deputy chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), told Sky News that measures such as social distancing will be needed “for a while yet”, even among those who have received the jab.
“We must be very clear that vaccination will prevent disease in individuals but it may not prevent those individuals from transmission to others,” he said.
“So, even though you’ve been vaccinated, you might not be completely protected yourself, you may be in risk of transmitting to others, so I think we will have to use extra precautions in terms of social distancing, wearing masks, for a while yet.”
He added: “There is light at the end of the tunnel and certainly by the beginning of March we should see a sharp drop off in hospitalisations and deaths.”
When asked about prioritisation for vaccination, professor Prof Harnden said: “The JCVI is an advisory body to government, government has to take into account wider considerations, other than the science behind the vaccines.
“It may be that other groups are looked at in terms of key workers once we’ve got groups one to four done.
“Our JCVI advice at the moment is to concentrate on hospitalisations and deaths amongst the vulnerable, and we have identified nine priority groups for that.
“I have no doubt that key workers are going to be important.”
He added: “One of the key bits of information that we need – and there are studies ongoing – is to whether these vaccines prevent transmission.
“Of course, if they prevent transmission and we’ve been able to demonstrate that, that’s a whole different ballgame in terms of who we should immunise.
“At the moment, our JCVI advice is to concentrate on those that are hospitalised and die from this ghastly virus.”
