Question: In a household of two 60-something partners, one gets the vaccine and the other doesn’t.  How could that work, what should be their protocols for the unvaccinated one? 

Answer:  If one person in the household is vaccinated and the other is not then the focus needs to be on keeping the unvaccinated partner safe.   Until we know more about whether vaccinated individuals can become infected and transmit the virus to others, partner behaviors shouldn’t change much from what they were doing pre-vaccination (see Q&A of 2/7). Both partners should continue following good public health practices, including masking, distancing, and hand washing.  Meanwhile, the vaccinated partner could take on more of the household responsibilities that are associated with increased risk– any responsibility associated with crowded places, closed spaces, close-contact settings– in order to limit the unvaccinated partner’s potential exposures.  In good news, evidence has been building  over the last few weeks, which indicates that the Pfizer vaccine greatly reduces infection and onward transmission risk (see Q&A of 2/18).  For example, on Monday Public Health England announced that data from its Siren Study of healthcare workers <65 years old show that the vaccine “provides high levels of protection against infection“– 70% after the first dose rising to 85% after the second dose.  At this point, we don’t have enough information to draw firm conclusions, but the initial signs are extremely positive!  Until we have enough evidence, please keep up with good public health practices whether you’re vaccinated or not.  

If you’d like to read more on the topic, this article published yesterday in the Washington Post provides a nice synthesis.