Dear Helen,
I know you are a nurse in England, so you will have access to information we in Barbados might not. Now that a COVID-19 vaccine has been developed and tested, do you know what impact the vaccine can have on the sex life?
I’ve been reading about a front-line worker in the UK who took the vaccine and now she has Bell’s palsy now.-
Cathyann
Dear Cathyann
I think in the global world in which we live today, we have the same access to information, but it’s knowing where to look for it reliably that’s often different. I tend to stick to a few trusted medical areas rather than tabloid ‘information’ sources.
The Bell’s Palsy to which you refer has apparently happened to a few people, but has also worn off quite quickly and they’ve been fine since.
The vaccine is highly unlikely to make any difference to anyone’s sex life – I can’t see how it could; COVID-19 itself sure can.
Even after vaccination, we won’t be protected until approximately two more weeks after our second dose, so if anyone reading this thinks that they will be, we can’t physiologically/biochemically be so. We take 7-21 days on average to start making antibodies and our other immune protective cells are primed to fight off an invading virus.
With the vaccine, the first dose starts that process and the second one consolidates it.
And, it still doesn’t mean that we can’t ‘catch’ the infection again, and pass it on to others who don’t have protection.
The vaccine is designed to protect us from becoming seriously ill and worse. We don’t know how long the vaccine will keep our immune system primed yet, but it will all be continuously researched as time goes by. We may need yearly revaccination, as with the ‘flu’ vaccine or we may not; it may ‘work’ for longer. The main thing right now is to avoid inhaling it if at all possible. So social distancing, making no assumptions that someone isn’t an asymptomatic carrier, and wearing masks will be important for a considerable time yet to come.
Once we are all vaccinated, or there is ‘herd immunity’, we will be able to return to a new normal… but for now, we definitely don’t need more people taking up hospital beds with COVID-19 and thereby blocking that bed from someone who needs care from a heart attack, stroke, accident of some sort or anything else. There are only so many beds in a hospital… after all. Let’s all look out for each other and protect those precious beds – and help our medics, nurses and other health care workers.
I hope this helps. – Helen
