Could You Still Spread COVID-19 If You Get Vaccinated?
Most people want to know if they can still get COVID-19 after vaccination
But there are others curious if they can spread the coronavirus after getting the jabs
Unfortunately, scientists know little if current vaccines can stop transmission
Since the vaccines weren't tested for that purpose, scientists couldn't say if the vaccines work against the spread
Matthew Woodruff, an immunologist at Emory University, said: "Mucosal immunology is ridiculously complicated"
Vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, among others, are meant to trick the immune system
Expose the body as safe as possible to the coronavirus to trigger an immune response
The immune response should yield neutralizing antibodies for the wild coronavirus, including the new strains
Here's the problem: vaccines cannot exactly produce antibodies as a real infection can
Woodruff explained that COVID-19 vaccines elicit immunoglobulin G or IgG antibodies
These are quick responders to foreign matter, which refers to infection
Yet another class of antibodies is needed for stopping transmission – the IgA
These are antibodies that patrol the mucosal surfaces of the nose, lungs, and digestive tract
There is no evidence yet that current vaccines can excellently elicit IgA
According to Quartz, coronavirus-neutralizing IgA is more common in people who got sick and recovered from COVID-19
They naturally produced the antibodies along with IgG
Their IgA now occupies the parts of the respiratory tract involved in transmission, like coughing and sneezing
In theory, abundance in IgA can disable the majority of SARS-CoV-2 in the respiratory tract
The unknown is the math
How many IgA does it take to limit transmission?
What is the viral load level to determine that?
Because scientists don't know it yet, we can only assume that those who recovered aren't spreading the coronavirus
However, it may depend on how much of the virus a person was exposed to
Experts also have no idea if the IgG antibodies work similarly to IgA when inside the respiratory tract
And even if that's confirmed, they need to find out how much SARS-CoV-2 would it take to cause another infection
These are the reasons why no vaccine manufacturer or health expert said that COVID-19 vaccines could stop transmission
Scientifically confirming that a vaccine lowers transmission rate is a tall order
Plus, scientists cannot just conduct experiments about it
Remember, there is no cure or treatment for COVID-19, and no one wants to get the coronavirus in any trial