SouthCoast Chief COVID Doctor: OK to Hug Vaccinated Grandma

It's hard to believe, but our first chat with Dr. Eliesel Lacerda De La Cruz took place over a year ago, on January 28, 2020, before COVID-19 was even officially named. Back then, we originally just called it the coronavirus. None of us, including Dr. Lacerda De La Cruz, could have predicted what was to happen over the course of the next 12 months.

Listen to today's full interview with Dr. Lacerda De La Cruz:

Today, our discussion was focused on vaccines instead of the virus. We had asked Fun 107 listeners to submit their vaccine questions and the doctor was able to get to almost all of them. Here are the three biggest takeaways from the interview with Dr. Lacerda De La Cruz:

It's OK to visit your vaccinated grandparents.

The doctor stressed that there is a difference between having the first shot and having both shots. He also advised that a waiting period of at least one week is observed before visiting to give the body a chance to build up a strong level of antibodies. What about hugging Grandma? Is that OK? "In life, everything is a calculated risk," Dr. Lacerda De La Cruz said. "I think that is an acceptable risk."

Kids should be back in school full time.

"If you can vaccinate the teachers and the caregivers, I think they should go back to school on the premises," he said.

Masks will make a comeback.

When we asked the doctor when he thought we would be living our lives the way we did back in 2019, he predicted that the way this will all end up was that COVID will be dealt with in a similar fashion as the flu. Once the public is vaccinated by the summer, the doctor believes we will return to "close to normal" lives. When the fall/winter months come, "we'll go back to wearing our masks and being careful," he said.