UK
Vaccinated people could still spread virus, warns Van-Tam

Deputy chief medical officer hits back at doctors who criticised decision to extend gap between vaccine doses

Gavin Cordon
2 days ago

Deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van Tam
(POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Coronavirus vaccines may not fully prevent people from passing the virus on to others and people who have had the jab should still continue to abide by lockdown restrictions, the deputy chief medical officer for England said.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said that if those who have been vaccinated begin easing off because they are protected, they are potentially putting at risk those further down the priority list who still need inoculation.

His warning came as the latest Government figures showed the number receiving the first dose of the vaccine across the UK has passed 5.8 million, with a record 478,248 getting the jab in a single day.

Prof Van-Tam, writing in the Telegraph, said it was still not known if people who had been vaccinated could still pass on the virus to others, even though they were protected from falling ill themselves.

"So even after you have had both doses of the vaccine you may still give Covid to someone else and the chains of transmission will then continue," he wrote.