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Survey finds 85 percent of vaccinated Mexicans still prefer to wear mouth masks

Mexico City, Mexico — A recent survey by Ipsos found that Mexicans still prefer to wear mouth masks even after being vaccinated. The agency, which surveyed nine countries, placed Mexico first with 85 percent when it came to wearing masks after vaccinations.

WHO doctors Katherine O’Brien and Soumiya Suaminathan, reported that the application of the COVID-19 vaccine does not exempt people from their responsibility to respect the measures of physical distancing, use of masks and constant washing and disinfection of hands.

Although vaccines help strengthen the immune system to recognize and fight the viruses and bacteria that attack it, the long-term duration of coronavirus vaccines is still unknown.

For this reason, Dr. Katherine O’Brien, a WHO vaccine expert, said that those who have already received vaccines are being followed to find out if their immune response is long-lasting and to know how long they will be protected against the disease.

According to information from the UN, the current number of vaccinated people is already greater than the number of new cases, however, it is still a very small percentage of the population. For example, in Europe at the moment, only 1.5 percent of people have been immunized.

As vaccination campaigns for health workers and high-risk groups around the world advance, health measures such as wearing a mask, maintaining physical distance, avoiding crowds and washing hands continue to be the strongest tool to reduce infection, while at the same time, prevent the appearance of new mutations.

WHO experts say that recent reports indicate that those who have been vaccinated and become infected could have a lower viral load, and, therefore, less chance of infecting others.

“But until we understand this completely, it is important that people, even after vaccination, take precautions, wear a mask, wash their hands, and maintain physical distancing,” says WHO Dr. Swaminathan.

Dr. Katherine O’Brien added that no vaccine is 100 percent effective and that right now, the world is in a situation where there is still a wide transmission, it is still out of control.