[coffeebean]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

Just in case there are others who don't understand how viruses work, let me explain just a bit further.

A person encounters the virus, and with sufficient inoculum that it enters the body and finds its way to its preferred target tissues (liver for hepatitis, brain for encephalitis, etc.). The virus then enters the cells by passing through the cell membrane, in the case of COVID this is accomplished via the "spike protein". It then hijacks that cell's nucleic acid and protein replicative mechanisms to make many copies of itself, which eventually kills that cell and are released into the bloodstream. From there it can leave the persons body to infect others (coughing/spitting in the case of COVID, the "other end" in the case of Hepatitis A, etc.)

So, a person successfully vaccinated will do one or all of:

1) kill the original inoculum before it reaches target tissue
2) deny the original inoculum entry into the cell
3) deny the virus access to the cells replicative processes

Therefore, the vaccinated person does not get the disease, does not replicate the virus, and does not pass it on

Then why are we being told that if we are vaccinated and immune, we still must continue to wear masks?