Dr Eugenia South, an emergency physician in the US, was one of the people to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in January. Yet, she thinks the usage of her face-masks must continue, as reported by Kaiser Health News.

South says that she is in no rush to throw her face mask away despite being vaccinated for coronavirus.

Dr Preeti Malani, chief health officer at the University of Michigan, along with other health experts explains why people should hold on to their masks.

No vaccines are 100 percent effective. Lengthy clinical trials have suggested that 95 percent of the illness caused by coronavirus have been prevented by two doses of the ‘Moderna’ and ‘Pfizer-BioNTech’ vaccines. 

While the result is impressive, there is a still chance five in 20 people being unprotected by the vaccine.

You can spread the virus even after vaccination. Most other vaccines such as flu shots, like the COVID-19 vaccine, prevent people from falling ill, but not from getting infected or spreading the pathogen to others. 

“While COVID vaccines clearly prevent illness, researchers need more time to figure out whether they prevent transmission too”, said Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist.

Tom Frieden, CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, said that wearing masks is the safest way for the ted people to protect those around them until researchers can find more conclusive answers.