The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) released new guidance on Monday that stated that people who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus can meet safely indoors without masks. This news boosted economic recovery and reopening outlooks as the United States begins see some signs of normalcy after almost a year of pandemic-related social restrictions.
According to the new guidance, fully vaccinated people can safely gather indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing and can meet indoors with unvaccinated people from another household without masks, as long as none of the parties involved are at increased risk for severe coronavirus infection. Additionally, a fully vaccinated individual does not have to quarantine or get tested after possible COVID-19 exposure, unless they develop symptoms of infection.
An individual is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after either a single shot of the Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) vaccine or after their second dose of the Moderna (NYSE: MRNA) or Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)-BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX) vaccines. By that schedule, it takes an individual at the least two weeks and at the most six weeks to be fully vaccinated.
More than 31.4 million Americans are fully vaccinated, according to the C.D.C., which is about 9.5% of the nation's population. Over 60 million have received at least one dose, with the vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna requiring a regime of two doses about four weeks apart.
While fully vaccinated people are able to host small private gatherings in their homes without masks or social distancing, the federal health agency advises that they still take steps to protect themselves and others by wearing masks and social distancing while in public or gathering with unvaccinated people from more than one household. They also should take precautions when interacting with unvaccinated people who are at risk of severe infection.
The C.D.C. also warns against medium or large-sized gatherings, even with mask wearing and other public health and safety measures, for fully vaccinated people.
Additionally, the agency still does not recommend traveling, either internationally or domestically, as several COVID variants still pose a considerable risk to the population. While all three vaccines authorized for emergency use in the United States have demonstrated various levels of protection against COVID variants, the vaccines have shown to be less effective against the mutation first discovered in South Africa, known as B.1.351.