Originally Posted by
compressor stall
There's significant information suggesting that the vaccine does not stop you spreading the virus - rather it stops you getting sick.
In that light, don't expect borders to open quickly until most o the population has received the vaccine.
You may be right. I am of the impression that the focus of the initial trials have been on whether it stops disease. It might be that any one of the vaccines are also very effective at preventing infection. It’s not that they don’t prevent infection, it’s just that that hasn’t been the focus of the testing and they haven’t gathered the data yet (perhaps it requires widespread blood testing instead of simpler observations). We have the luxury of waiting and learning from millions of foreign citizens providing data to enable a calm (non-emergency) approval, which may be of a vaccine that’s highly effective at both.
If we find that the vaccines are highly effective at preventing infection, a combination of vaccines and rapid testing technology could lead to significant non-quarantine travel just months into 2021.
What’s more concerning is questions about which vaccine is acceptable/approved and how it’s documented. If Australia approves oxford and is satisfied that it prevents infection, would we let in someone who’s received Pfizer if Aus isn’t satisfied about its effectiveness yet?