Can the vaccine stop you catching covid

[Elephantsparade]

I know this sounds like a stupid question but does the vaccine sometime stop you getting covid at all.

I heard so much about how it reduces symptoms (which is a huge benefit) and you can still pass it on, that I dont know if you not get it all.
I also dont get the difference between having it asymptomatic or just not having when exposed - like it must go in your body either way. Is it just how much it multiples?

No it does not... just read through some of the threads on here to see how many vaccinated people have still caught it, are quite poorly with it & are certain they caught it from vaccinated people

The vaccine helps your body to break down and get rid of covid but it doesn't stop you catching it.

Even with the vaccine, some people can be very poorly, luck of the draw in terms of your body dealing with it I think (some poeple naturally get over bugs quicker etc).

Having covid asymptomatically just means that you have covid but don't show symptoms.

The exposure, the person you catch it off needs to be shedding the virus in enough of a load to pass it on and you need to be in the vicinity long enough, hence tracing will review the 48hours before symptoms/positive test if asymptomatic.

Hth

This sets out quite well the huge benefits of vaccine vs no vaccine and also the limitations of the vaccines.

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/21/icu-is-full-of-the-unvaccinated-my-patience-with-them-is-wearing-thin

It reduces the chances of catching the virus AND it reduces the chances of transmitting the virus if you do catch it.

After the third/booster dose the data so far suggests that an individual will have 93% protection from contracting symptomatic covid. Protection is lower after 2 doses but not insignificant.

The vaccine:
a) makes it less likely that you will catch Covid at all
b) makes it less likely that if you catch it you will pass it on
c) reduces the chances of severe illness, hospitalisation, and death if you do catch it

It doesn't do any of those things with 100% efficacy but it does make you generally safer and safer for others to be around.

Double jabbed. Had covid 2 weeks ago. So no it doesn't stop you from catching covid. Thankfully it lessens the symptoms and effects so I had it pretty mild.

@Jelly0naplate - thank you. I think i understand.

I understand the benefits of vaccination so this isnt meant to be anti vax. Ive had 3 shots now. Its just i live with someone who has covid and i havent tested positive and i'm trying to understand if i just haven't caught it cos they havent shed it or the vaccine can actually stop you catching it enough to show up on a test.

I feel very safe with my 3 shots, its just hard to get your head round how they work.

I know people who were young and healthy, double vaccinated and still had pretty bad cases of Covid. I don’t think it’s all that effective but it’s just my opinion.

I'd try to visualise it as though the virus is a tennis ball and the vaccine is a tennis racquet -

The virus (ball) gets hurled at you. Without anything, you're going to get hit by the ball at 120mph and if you're lucky, you can deflect it with just a very sore bruise or in some cases where you've had prior experience of dodging ping pong balls, you're in a better position to have it bounce off with just a glancing blow.

With a vaccine (racquet), you've got a greater chance of batting the ball away before it gives you a black eye, but with time and repeatedly walloping the ball, the strings get worn out and eventually, there are some holes where the ball could theoretically get through, albeit slowed down more than if you were just standing there defenceless. You've also got a bit better at reacting quickly over that period.

A booster vaccine means that somebody's handed you a freshly restrung racquet. And a different type of booster vaccine means that you've just been given a state of the art carbon fibre composite racquet to use on top of the skills you've developed using the original solid wood one.

Either way, with all these balls bouncing around you, there is a chance that the ballboy will get twatted in the head - but if your immune system has been equipped with the good racquet and your experience, you're more likely to send it straight back over the net instead of getting them.

I caught covid while vaccinated, from vaccinated people and while wearing full PPE (care home).

It is a NASTY virus.

The way I look at it, is that it gives you a fighting chance not to end up in hospital and a ventilator

Numbers in hospitals without the jab is concerning but it’s a numbers game

Just to re-iterate i know you can catch covid whilst vaccinated but you are much less likely to be hospitised or die. Fantastic.

I just couldnt work out if as well as that benefit you might also just not get it at all because of the vaccine.

I like the tennis racket explanation

@SpookyScarySkeletons

Double jabbed. Had covid 2 weeks ago. So no it doesn't stop you from catching covid. Thankfully it lessens the symptoms and effects so I had it pretty mild.

Out of interest do you think you passed it on to anyone?

Completely unscientific I know, but I’m interested in whether people are suspecting they’re ‘dead ends’ in an infection chain. My dd’s class is currently in the midst of an outbreak but I’m yet to hear of much being passed along further than an individual household except through the children iyswim.

Yes it stops some people getting it. For others, it reduces symptoms considerable. Either way, when vaccinated you are much uch less likely to be hospitalised and even less likely to die.

No it does not. It was never going to be 100%, but so many people think it is, hence never-ending rising cases, people still shielding, people dying. For most it will reduce risk of hospitalisation if they have covid, and reduce symptoms too. According to some, it also reduces the spread of covid.

There is no proof that the vaccine stops everyone from getting covid, and I don't think there's any proof that you're less likely to catch it.

Either way, vaccinated or not it's not 100% safe so people should think because they've had covid/vaccine they won't kill anyone by going out without LFTs and distancing and masks :)

Very simplified, but in essence:

The vaccine causes your body to develop antibodies to fight off the virus. Unfortunately it doesn't set up a forcefield around you to stop the virus getting into your body. But when the virus does visit you don't have to set out to make antibodies to fight a virus your immune system has never met before - you have the antibodies circulating, ready to spring into action and de-activate the virus much quicker than if you'd not been vaccinated.

If you have some combination of lots of really good antibodies and a low dose of Covid you may deactivate it so quickly that you're unaware of having it. If you take on board a lot of Covid and you don't have many antibodies you may get quite ill. Most people will probably be somewhere in between and feel unwell to a greater or lesser extent, but nowhere near as unwell as if they had to wait for their immune response to start from scratch.

Over time the level of antibodies circulating will reduce (this happens with the antibodies you've previously made to other pathogens), but all sorts of clever cells will hold 'templates' so that they 'remember' how to make the anti-Covid antibodies and can make them quicker and in greater quantities than if you'd not had the vaccine. Again, it depends on how things are in your body, but again you would expect to feel something from mildly out of sorts to quite unwell while you immune system does its job. But it will be better than if your immune system had no 'experience' of the virus.

It will not stop you catching it, but it will greatly reduce your risk of catching it.

These data from the US Centre for Disease control illustrate the rates in vaccinated and unvaccinated populations and are pretty clear.

covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#rates-by-vaccine-status

i caught it wile doubled vax but because i was double vax it just meant it was like a bad cold.Unfortunately i still have to quarantine

It can stop you catching it, but for many people it won't.

I don't understand why people are saying "it won't stop you catching it" because they got it after having both doses - it's impossible to predict who will be protected from catching it and who won't.

According to some, it also reduces the spread of covid

I honestly don’t see how this is disputed. Given the lack of mitigations in this country I can’t see how the graphs are showing anything else?

Given what we know about delta, even allowing for a decent percentage of natural immunity through undetected asymptomatic or mild cases to add to known cases we would be no where near achieving any significant levels of natural resistance in the population without vaccinations and I don’t think we’d see the relatively slow and stable growth we’ve been seeing.

Absolutely not! I’m double vaccinated, fit, healthy, I eat a super clean diet and I have just had an utterly terrifying week of Covid and I’m no where near close to being recovered.