JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The First Coast News vaccine team continues to dig into what the COVID-19 vaccines mean for you and your health.
You've probably heard Moderna's coronavirus vaccine efficacy is 94%, while Pfizer's is 95%, but what do those numbers mean? Can you still get sick and pass the disease onto others?
The term "vaccine efficacy" has been floating around since last year, and Dr. Elizabeth Ransom of Baptist Health says it has to do with what happens in clinical trials.
“It’s a scientific analysis essentially that looks at the percentage reduction in disease in vaccinated verses unvaccinated individuals," Ransom said.
However, "vaccine effectiveness" is a completely different thing.
"That’s really more of a look at what happens out in the real world essentially when people are getting vaccinated because essentially a controlled, clinical trial is just that," Ransom said. "It’s a controlled setting."
Dr. Mohammed Reza is an infectious disease specialist and says you're less likely to develop severe symptoms after the vaccine, but it doesn't mean you won't still carry the virus.
“It more so means you won’t get sick from it," Reza said. "We don’t know if it prevents you from catching COVID asymptomatically, which means having no symptoms and asymptomatically spreading it to other people around you.”
That’s why the doctors say it’s still important to maintain at least six feet of social distance from those not in your immediate household and wear a mask, even if you've already gotten both of your vaccinations.
Reza says the vaccine's effectiveness doesn't kick in immediately after the second dose.
“Those two numbers, that 95 and 94 percent, doesn’t apply until about two weeks after the second vaccine dose. The vaccines are two doses over a period of time.”
The doctors say both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are extremely effective. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report the season flu vaccine is typically between 40 and 60% effective.