What will having the vaccine allow me to do?

[dudsville]

I know it will greatly reduce the chance of me getting covid but i don't understand transmission. If I have the vaccine and my family don't then can I travel to see family or will I still carry a risk of picking covid up, for instance in an airport or petrol station, and passing it on to them?

Having the vaccine won’t allow you to do anything you can’t do now. It’s not known whether you can still transmit the virus once you’ve had it so people will still have to stick to all the rules until they are relaxed.

Thanks mouse, I'd also just found the right way to word the question in Google and got the same info!

You'll always be able to pick up particles on your hands etc. The vaccine will only have an impact when the majority of people have been immunised for this reason - and having the vaccine won't be the end of social distancing and restrictions until a lot of people have had it.

We don't know yet whether any of the vaccines will prevent transmission of the virus. They've only been tested to see whether they protect the vaccinated person and they appear to by reducing the severity of illness if they catch Covid. You can pass on flu for example even if you've had the flu vaccine.

My worry is that those who are vaccinated start living as normal again (no masks or distancing etc) with no regard for those who aren't vaccinated but could still suffer badly from the virus if they caught it.

Vaccination is far from being the silver bullet. I read only today that we need around 70% minimum of the population vaccinated before we reach herd immunity.