Kathmandu. The Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that a mask may offer more protection than vaccines because there is scientific evidence that they work.

As per CBS, Dr. Robert Redfield during a testimony  to the US Senate Subcommittee claimed, “I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine, because it may be 70%. And if I don’t get an immune response, the vaccine is not going to protect me.” Additionally, around 60 to 70% of the total population would need to be administered with a dosage if herd immunity was to be achieved. He clarified that a COVID vaccine would probably not be made widely available for Americans until mid-2021.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, who has served as the Director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984  had pressed on the matter arguing that the chances that scientists succeed in producing a vaccine that is 98% or more effective is incredibly slim. The most that they hoped for was 75%, and any vaccine that could produce results with 50-60% effectiveness for now could be approved.

Former US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) commissioner Scott Gottlieb commented during an interview in August that granting approval to a vaccine would depend on whether it was 50% effective in either bringing down the incidence of the disease or the rate of infection. But even this, while reducing the number of infections, would not guarantee the security of each and every individual.