Haleem Olatunji, The CableNG
Christian Ramers, an infectious disease specialist with Family Health Centers of San Diego, says Pfizer vaccine requires time for the body to attain immunity against COVID-19.
He said this in reaction to the case of Matthew W, a nurse in California, United States, who contracted COVID-19 after taking Pfizer’s vaccine.
Pfizer and BioNTech had announced that the first vaccine they developed against COVID-19 could prevent more than 90 percent of people from getting infected.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved the vaccine for public use.
Ramers, a member of the clinical advisory panel for the country’s vaccine rollout, said an individual requires 10 to 14 days for the vaccine to develop immunity in the body system.
“It is not unexpected at all. If you work through the numbers, this is exactly what we would expect to happen if someone was exposed,” he said.
“We know from the vaccine clinical trials that it’s going to take about 10 to 14 days for you to start to develop protection from the vaccine.
“That first dose we think gives you somewhere around 50%, and you need that second dose to get up to 95%.
“You hear heath practitioners being very optimistic about it being the beginning of the end, but it’s going to be a slow roll, weeks to months as we roll out the vaccine.”
In a Facebook message, Matthew, an emergency room nurse at two different local hospitals, talked about receiving the Pfizer vaccine on December 18.
According to an ABC News affiliate, six days after receiving the dose, the nurse felt sick upon working a shift in the COVID-19 unit.
He developed the virus symptoms after which he proceeded to a drive-up hospital testing site and tested positive for COVID-19, a day after Christmas.
