Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, touted the benefits of face masks and coverings in the ongoing battle against the novel coronavirus, and even went on to assert that they might provide better protection than a viable vaccine.

“We have clear scientific evidence they work, and they are our best defense,” he told the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies on Wednesday.

“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.”

Redfield noted that a potential coronavirus vaccine—which will likely be available in limited quantities by the end of this year—may only offer immunogenicity, or the ability to build an immune response, of 70 percent.

“If I don’t get an immune response, the vaccine’s not going to protect me. This face mask will,” Redfield told the lawmakers.

White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted last month that there is only a slim chance that a coronavirus vaccine with 90-percent-plus effectiveness will ever be developed.

Health officials and medical experts, though, are still hoping for a vaccine that’s 70-percent-plus effective, but 50 percent or 60 percent could be passable as well.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has confirmed that it will fully clear a coronavirus vaccine if it is deemed safe and at least 50 percent effective.

Late last month, Redfield told reporters on a conference call that if most Americans decided to fully adhere to current public-health guidelines—such as wearing face masks and practicing social distancing—the United States could get the pandemic under control in just twelve weeks.

“It’s in our hands, within our grasp,” he said. “But it is going to require all of us to embrace these mitigation steps. And we’re going to need to do that four, six, eight, ten, twelve weeks and then we will see this outbreak under control.”

Redfield added that for this to work, at least 90 percent of citizens need to follow the guidelines.

Medical experts say that the coronavirus can spread through respiratory droplets that pass when an infected person talks, coughs, or sneezes. Numerous studies have shown that not wearing a face mask dramatically increases a person’s chance of being infected by the contagion.

The CDC says face masks are “particularly important” when people can’t maintain a six-foot distance from one another.

For even better protection, Fauci has suggested that people should wear goggles or an eye shield in addition to a mask.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Minneapolis-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.  

Image: Reuters