There's a 3rd reason. Healthcare workers are frequently working directly with high risk people.
An asymptomatic infection of a healthcare worker could lead to a typhoid mary situation. Especially if they are in the right area of interaction (geriatric care, oncology).
Firstly healthcare workers should be being tested on a very frequent basis to catch for asymptomatic cases (as well as tons of PPE), secondly there's no evidence the vaccine will stop that type of transmission.
> Firstly healthcare workers should be being tested on a very frequent basis to catch for asymptomatic cases.
Agreed. It's a good idea even if they have been vaccinated until community spread is way down.
> secondly there's no evidence the vaccine will stop that type of transmission.
Why do you say that? The vaccine should trigger a strong immune response which should keep most people from getting infected. That's my assumption anyways.
Seems like the multi-prong approach here is the most helpful anyways. Vaccine + testing + masks to eliminate spread as much as possible in vulnerable communities.
An asymptomatic infection of a healthcare worker could lead to a typhoid mary situation. Especially if they are in the right area of interaction (geriatric care, oncology).