Vaccines and Clinic Behavior

Soon we will be receiving vaccines as part of the healthcare workforce. However, this should not change anything in ophthalmology offices. In ophthalmology offices, all entrants must wear masks at all times. This will still be a requirement going forward, for several reasons. One reason is that we cannot know which of our patients will be vaccinated. The second reason, which is perhaps more important to understand, is that, at this time, vaccines are only known to decrease disease/symptoms. We do not currently know how good the new pandemic vaccines are at preventing infection/transmission, i.e. the ability to act as an asymptomatic carrier.