Surgeon General Jerome Adams says people still need to wear masks and socially distance after they've been vaccinated because it doesn't prevent infection just severe illness
Surgeon General Jerome Adams said on Monday morning that people still had to wear masks and socially distance once they are vaccinated against COVID-19 because they can still pass on the virus.
Speaking on Good Morning America, Adams urged caution and said people would still 'need to be careful' into much of next year.
The vaccine was finally approved by the FDA last week after weeks of deliberation.
While it has been proven to be 94% effective in preventing severe illness from the virus, it has not yet been proven to be a full proof means of preventing infection.
More study needs to be done before that can be known for certain, Adams said.
Intensive care nurse Sandra Lindsay received the first Pfizer shot in the U.S. at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens just before 9.30am this morning during a livestream with New York Gov Andrew Cuomo.
The vaccine will be rolled out gradually until around February and March, when it'll become widely available to the general public.
But even then, millions are skeptical about taking it. It means the virus could still circulate for months after millions of Americans become immunized against it.
Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Monday morning. He warned people they still had to wear masks and socially distance once they are vaccinated against COVID-19 because they can still pass on the virus.
Intensive care nurse in New York, Sandra Lindsay, is the first person in the country to receive a COVID-19 shot. She was vaccinated at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens just before 9.30am this morning during a livestream with New York Gov Andrew Cuomo
'We still need to be careful into at least the second quarter of next year.
'They were tested with an outcome of severe disease - not preventing infection,' Adams said on Monday in reference to the 22,000 people who were given the vaccine as part of Pfizer's trial.
'We're going to continue to need to wear a mask, wash out hands,' he said.
'Vaccines are going out they are safe and they are highly effective.
'It's balancing the really somber news that we've got still over 2,000 people dying every day from this virus.
'Help is here, hope is on the way but we still need to remember to wear our mask, wash our hands and watch our distances,' he added.
That was much of the discussion during the FDA panel's deliberations last Thursday on whether or not the vaccine was safe.
Pharmacists Richard Emery, left, and Karen Nolan, wheel a box containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine next to a storage freezer as it arrives at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, on Monday morning
Essentially, all that the Pfizer trial proved was that people who received the vaccine became less sick or tested positive for the virus at a lower rate than those who were given a placebo.
It has not yet been proven that it completely protects people from becoming infected at all or passing it on though.
The first vaccines are being rolled out across the country on Monday morning.
Nursing home residents and staff will receive it first along with healthcare workers.
Each state is in charge of the doses being dished out among the public.
In New York, the first to receive it are two healthcare workers.
There was widespread criticism of the FDA for taking so long to approve the vaccine.
It was approved in the UK more than a week earlier than in the US and was also green lit by Canada first.
President Trump threatened to fire FDA Commissioner Steve Hahn if his administration didn't approve it by Friday night.
More than 186,880 new COVID cases were reported on Sunday as the seven-day rolling average hit 211,494. Hospitalizations climbed to 109,331 - marking the eighth-consecutive daily increase.
In total the U.S. has seen more than 16 million cases and more than 299,000 deaths.
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