Do I still need to wear a mask after getting the COVID-19 vaccine? Zhong Nanshan's latest response

On January 31, the "Thousand-Mile Tour to Support Grassroots Epidemic Prevention and Control" event was launched in Guangzhou. Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, answered questions on the spot about grassroots epidemic prevention and control during the Spring Festival.

■ What is the current epidemic situation at home and abroad?

Zhong Nanshan said that the epidemic is currently spreading in some local areas in the country, the international epidemic situation remains high, and winter is objectively not conducive to epidemic prevention and control.

Judging from the recent domestic infections, the cases in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Hebei and other places are mainly at the grassroots level. The knowledge of the grassroots people and medical staff on the epidemic is relatively weak, and the detection capacity is also relatively weak. "Why there are local clusters of infections shows that we have relaxed our vigilance to a certain extent, and we need to make a good summary."

■ What challenges does China’s epidemic prevention and control still face?

Zhong Nanshan pointed out that my country's current epidemic prevention and control has encountered some challenges. First, cases are sporadic, mainly in rural areas. In addition, some virus variants have been encountered, and researchers have recently conducted in-depth research on the effectiveness of vaccines. As the number of confirmed cases continues to decrease and the epidemic prevention and control situation gradually improves, some places have relaxed their vigilance to a certain extent.

At present, sporadic and localized epidemics have occurred in some places, which requires vigilance.

■ Do I still need to wear a mask after getting the new coronavirus vaccine?

Zhong Nanshan said that after taking the COVID-19 vaccine, you should continue to wear a mask. my country's vaccines are mainly inactivated vaccines with a very good safety. Generally, antibodies will appear after the first dose, with a protection level of about 60% to 70%; 14 days after the second dose, the protection level can reach nearly 90%.

Antibodies will only appear about two to three weeks after vaccination. There is still a risk of infection in the gap between vaccination and antibody production, so you should pay attention to personal protection.

■ Are cases with positive nucleic acid test results highly contagious?

Zhong Nanshan believes that positive cases are not highly contagious. These cases may still have residual nucleic acid fragments, but the presence of residual nucleic acid fragments does not mean that there are live viruses. It is rare to see positive nucleic acid cases that can infect others.

■ How to do a good job in epidemic prevention and control in rural areas?

Zhong Nanshan said that rural areas are now the focus of epidemic prevention and control. Judging from the recent outbreaks, 60% to 70% of the cases are in rural areas.

To do a good job in prevention and control, we need to focus on three key words: popular science, training, and testing.

One characteristic of the new coronavirus that is different from SARS is that it sometimes has no symptoms after infection, but is clearly contagious.

At present, most of the confirmed patients have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic, but are clearly contagious. We need to strengthen popular science education for the public, encourage everyone to seek medical treatment in a timely manner when they find symptoms, and strengthen the training of village doctors. In addition, Zhong Nanshan also suggested using more mobile sampling vehicles to drive to the doorsteps of rural residents for testing to avoid large gatherings of people.

▌Source: CCTV News (ID: cctvnewscenter)

Producer/Xu Bing Editor-in-Chief/Wang Xingdong

Reporter/Chen Xuting, Luo Pingzhang, Huang Dongxu, Chen Jiexiong

Editor/Shu Peng and Xie Yujie

©CCTV News