Keep the mask: A vaccine won’t end the US crisis right away
Associated PressNEW YORK — Don’t even think of putting the mask away anytime soon. “It’s going to be a slow process and it’s going to be a process with ups and downs, like we’ve seen already,” said Dr. Bill Moss, an infectious-disease expert at Johns Hopkins University. SHOTS IN ARMS Once federal officials give a vaccine the go-ahead, doses that are already being stockpiled will be deployed with the goal of “putting needles in people’s arms” within 24 to 48 hours, said Paul Mango, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services official involved in the Operation Warp Speed effort to develop COVID-19 vaccines. The first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine might bring about a degree of protection within a couple of weeks, meaning people who get infected might not get as sick as they otherwise would. Depending on whether the virus mutates in coming years and how long the vaccine’s protection lasts, booster shots later on may also be necessary, said Dr. Edward Belongia, a vaccine researcher with the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute in Wisconsin.