Pharmacist Madeline Acquilano inoculated public school security officer Victor Rodriguez with the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, on March 3, 2021.
Joseph Precious | AFP | Getty Images
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new guideline on Monday for people who have been completely vaccinated against Covid-19, a long-awaited step as the nation tries to return to normalcy after nearly a year. of restrictions due to the pandemic.
“There are some activities that fully vaccinated people can begin to resume now in the privacy of their own homes. Everyone, even those who are vaccinated, should continue with all mitigation strategies when they are in public settings,” he said. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC. a statement.
According to the guide, fully vaccinated people can safely visit other fully vaccinated people and some unvaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or distancing themselves socially, according to the guide. Someone is considered to be fully vaccinated two weeks after a single shot of the newly licensed Johnson & Johnson vaccine or two weeks after the second shot of Moderna or Pfizer dose regimens.
Approximately 58.9 million people in the U.S. have received at least one shot with 30.7 million of those people receiving two doses, just over 9% of the country’s population, according to the CDC, which does not break down the vaccine that they received people.
Fully inoculated people can also visit people without vaccines from a single home without wearing masks or socially distancing themselves as long as they have a low risk of serious illness, according to the CDC.
“For example, fully vaccinated grandparents can visit indoors with their unvaccinated healthy daughter and their healthy children without wearing masks or physically distancing themselves, as long as none of the unvaccinated family members are at risk for COVID -19 severe, “according to the CDC guideline.
Fully vaccinated people should not be quarantined or tested for Covid-19 if they are exposed to someone with the virus as long as they do not show symptoms. However, if a vaccinated person begins to show symptoms, Covid-19 should be isolated and tested.
There are still some activities that fully vaccinated people cannot yet do, the CDC warns. Vaccinated Americans should avoid medium- and large-sized face-to-face meetings and should also continue to wear face masks and social distancing when in public.
If a vaccinated person visits someone who is at risk for serious illness and who is not vaccinated, they should wear a mask, keep a distance of 6 feet, and try to visit outside when possible, according to the agency.
Although a growing body of evidence suggests that people inoculated with Covid-19 are less likely to transmit the disease to others, it is not yet known how long the protection of someone or the effectiveness of shots against emerging variants of the Covid-19, CDC said in a statement.
“While the new direction is a positive step, many more people need to be vaccinated before everyone can stop taking most of the precautions of COVID-19,” the CDC said. “It is important that, until then, everyone continues to adhere to important mitigation measures to protect the large number of people who remain unvaccinated.”