People vaccinated against Covid-19 should remain masked in regions where transmission of the virus is high, the WHO said on Friday, May 14, the day after an American farewell to the mask began.
Read also: Covid-19: Joe Biden announces the end of wearing masks for vaccinated people
The United States, where the number of Covid-19 cases has fallen sharply, announced Thursday the lifting of the recommendation to wear a mask for vaccinated people. The only exception: the health authorities always recommend that vaccinated people continue to wear a mask in transport (planes, buses, trains, etc.) as well as in airports and train stations.
Asked about this change, experts from the World Health Organization did not comment directly, stressing that everything depended on the epidemiological context of each country. But they recalled that the vaccines did not offer 100% protection from Covid. "
Even in situations where vaccination coverage is high, if there is a lot of transmission, you do not remove your mask
", summed up the director in charge of health emergencies at the WHO, Michael Ryan, at a conference Press. “
In the case of a country that wishes to reduce or eliminate the wearing of masks or remove other public health and social measures, this should only be done by taking into account theintensity of transmission in the region and level of immunization coverage
", he said.
In turn, WHO scientific chief Soumya Swaminathan explained that data from countries that are expanding vaccination shows that vaccines "
protect against infection in a proportion ranging from 70 to 80%
".
So that one can still be infected, have an asymptomatic or mild illness even after being vaccinated, she noted, indicating that it was not a surprise.
"
This is why we need other protective measures, like wearing a mask, distancing, etc ... until countries reach a level where a large number of people are protected and traffic virus and transmission are at very low levels
, ”she added.
For the expert, “
very few countries are therefore at the point where they can abandon these measures (...).
In most countries we have to keep doing it
”.
The United States are carrying out a vast vaccination campaign.
More than 250,000 injections have been carried out in 114 days since the start of Joe Biden's mandate, the latter said.
And on Thursday, American teens between 12 and 15 were also able to start getting vaccinated.