"We have a number of vaccines that have been demonstrated to be safe, efficacious and to be manufactured with high quality. And so, any of these vaccines are ones that are going to actually protect you. If you live in a country where there's more than one vaccine in the program, you should consider yourself lucky that you have access to the vaccine. And when it's your turn to actually get vaccine, that's the time when you should get it and and accept what vaccine is offered to you." - Dr. Katherine O'Brien from WHO
According to WHO’s Dr Katherine O’Brien, "on a daily basis, a weekly basis, a monthly basis, our immune systems are seeing all kinds of viruses that come at us in our noses, in our mouths, in our intestinal track on our hands. What's out there and readying itself for when it's exposed to something that could be causing disease. What the vaccines do is they provide to the immune system a small part of a germ that we know can cause disease. And it's training the immune system so that it is completely ready when it actually sees that particular germ."
"Vaccines, what they do is they are a part of the germ that our body can recognize and develop an immune response to so that the next time that we see the real germ, there are already fighters in our body to protect us against the infection." - Dr. Katherine O'Brien from WHO
Yes, we still need to continue taking precautions while we're still learning about what the vaccines can do.
Dr. Katherine O'Brien from WHO says, "right now, we're in a situation where there's still very broad transmission in many countries, the transmission is just out of control. And so for how long we need to continue these precautions is really going to depend on what communities and countries can do to really crush this virus, to crush the transmission. And in that way, the vaccines can do their their best job at preventing disease."
"Well, you can take the vaccine actually, once you've recovered from COVID. So waiting for a few weeks is recommended. You should have no symptoms at all and you should feel perfectly well when you take your vaccination. However, there are differences between countries. Some countries recommend that people wait for three months or six months till after the infection." - WHO's Chief Scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan
According to WHO's Chief Scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, he says, "after getting COVID, people do get an immune response, but this varies from person to person and it depends on whether you had a mild infection or whether you had more severe infection. And we know from many studies now that if you've had a very mild or asymptomatic infection, then many people may have very low levels of antibodies that they form.
While the COVID-19 vaccines are working well, some people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will still get sick. No vaccines are 100% effective.
COVID-19 vaccination reduces the risk of COVID-19 and its potentially severe complications.
For more information on Covid-19 or the vaccines, visit who.int
Public sector testing is free of charge. Go to your nearest clinic or health care facility to find out if they do Covid-19 testing and double check the cost involved.
Private laboratories such as Lancet, Ampath and Pathcare can also test for Covid-19. Each laboratory has their own testing cost. If going via a private lab, it is advisable to check with your medical aid to ascertain if they will cover the costs for the test.
